One of the residences which Lupin occupied at that period and which he used oftener than any of the others was in the Rue Chateaubriand, near the Arc de l’Étoile. He was known there by the name of Michel Beaumont. He had a snug flat here and was looked after by a man-servant, Achille, who was utterly devoted to his interests and whose chief duty was to receive and repeat the telephone-messages addressed to Lupin by his followers.
Lupin, on returning home, learnt, with great astonishment, that a woman had been waiting to see him for over an hour:
“What! Why, no one ever comes to see me here! Is she young?”
“No.... I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so!”
“She’s wearing a lace shawl over her head, instead of a hat, and you can’t see her face.... She’s more like a clerk . . . or a woman employed in a shop. She’s not well-dressed....”
“Whom did she ask for?”
“M. Michel Beaumont,” replied the servant.
“Queer. And why has she called?”
“All she said was that it was about the Enghien business.... So I thought that....”