“Listen to me, monsieur! I give you my word of honor that this attempted flight was simply preliminary to my general plan of escape.”
“I do not understand,” said the judge.
“It is not necessary that you should understand.”
And when the judge, in the course of that examination which was reported at length in the columns of the Echo de France, when the judge sought to resume his investigation, Arsène Lupin exclaimed, with an assumed air of lassitude:
“Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu, what’s the use! All these questions are of no importance!”
“What! No importance?” cried the judge.
“No; because I shall not be present at the trial.”
“You will not be present?”
“No; I have fully decided on that, and nothing will change my mind.”
Such assurance combined with the inexplicable indiscretions that Arsène committed every day served to annoy and mystify the officers of the law. There were secrets known only to Arsène Lupin; secrets that he alone could divulge. But for what purpose did he reveal them? And how?