“Yes. Some one came yesterday evening, while M. Daubrecq was out. I saw lights reflected upon the trees in the garden.”
“The portress’ bedroom?”
“The portress was up.”
“Then it was some of those detective-fellows; they are still hunting. I’ll see you later, Victoire. You must let me in again.”
“What! You want to....”
“What do I risk? Your room is on the third floor. Daubrecq suspects nothing.”
“But the others!”
“The others? If it was to their interest to play me a trick, they’d have tried before now. I’m in their way, that’s all. They’re not afraid of me. So till later, Victoire, at five o’clock exactly.”
One further surprise awaited Lupin. In the evening his old nurse told him that, having opened the drawer of the bedside table from curiosity, she had found the crystal stopper there again.
Lupin was no longer to be excited by these miraculous incidents. He simply said to himself: