M. Dudouis seemed flustered, in his turn, by the presence of the enemy, so often pursued and always so intangible:
"We've got him, this time," he said, between his teeth. "We've got him; and he can't escape us."
"No, chief, he can't: neither he nor the two women."
"Where are they?"
"Sonia and Victoire are on the second floor; Lupin is on the third."
M. Dudouis suddenly became anxious:
"Why, it was through the windows of one of those floors that the tapestries were passed when they disappeared!"
"That's so, chief."
"In that case, Lupin can get away too. The windows look out on the Rue Dufresnoy."
"Of course they do, chief; but I have taken my precautions. The moment you arrived, I sent four of our men to keep watch under the windows in the Rue Dufresnoy. They have strict instructions to shoot, if any one appears at the windows and looks like coming down. Blank cartridges for the first shot, ball-cartridges for the next."