Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 28, 2025
"The forty thousand francs?" "Here's your cheque." "Good. It but remains for me to thank you, monsieur." "So the correspondence..." "The Stanislas Vorenglade correspondence will be handed to you on the conditions stated. However, I am glad to be able to give you, here and now, as a sign of my gratitude, the four letters which I meant to send to the papers this evening."
He did not so much as think of carping, of pretending as he had until then believed that the letters had been destroyed by Vorenglade the deputy or, at any rate, that Vorenglade would not dare to hand them over, because, in so doing, Vorenglade was also working his own destruction. No, Prasville did not speak a word.
I shall buy those letters and documents of Stanislas Vorenglade at whatever price he chooses to name. Then we shall go back to the police-office and I shall say to Prasville, 'Go to the Elysee at once ... Use the list as though it were genuine, save Gilbert from death and be content to acknowledge to-morrow, when Gilbert is saved, that the list is forged.
"'Be off, quickly!... If you refuse, well, if you refuse, the Vorenglade letters and documents shall be reproduced to-morrow, Tuesday, morning in one of the leading newspapers. Vorenglade will be arrested. And M. Prasville will find himself in prison before night." Lupin rubbed his hands: "He'll do as he's told!... He'll do as he's told!... I felt that at once, when I was with him.
If Lupin had acted so daringly, it showed that the letters existed and that he relied upon buying them from Stanislas Vorenglade. But, as, on the other hand, Vorenglade was not in Paris, Prasville's business was simply to forestall Lupin's steps with regard to Vorenglade and obtain the restitution of those dangerous letters from Vorenglade at all costs. The first to arrive would be the victor.
"Very well, sir," said Prasville. "We shall see each other when the time comes. Good-bye for the present, Daubrecq: you shall hear from me." And, drawing Vorenglade aside, "As for you, Vorenglade, you are playing a dangerous game." "Dear me!" said the ex-deputy. "And why?" The two men moved away. Daubrecq had not uttered a word and stood motionless, as though rooted to the ground.
Vorenglade looked at the two men, recognized Prasville, recognized Daubrecq, and smiled: "Oho, it seems that my return was awaited with some impatience! What's it all about? Certain letters, I expect?" "Yes... yes..." replied the two men, fussing around him. "You're too late," he declared. "Eh? What? What do you mean?" "I mean that the letters are sold." "Sold! To whom?"
Vorenglade sold them, two hours ago, for the sum of forty thousand francs; and I have bought them back at the same price." Daubrecq burst into a great roar of laughter: "Lord, how funny! Forty thousand francs! You've paid forty thousand francs! To M. Nicole, I suppose, who sold you the list of the Twenty-seven? Well, would you like me to tell you the real name of M. Nicole? It's Arsene Lupin!"
"I know that." "Very likely. But what you don't know, you silly ass, is that I have come straight from Stanislas Vorenglade's and that Stanislas Vorenglade left Paris four days ago! Oh, what a joke! They've sold you waste paper! And your forty thousand francs! What an ass! What an ass!" He walked out of the room, screaming with laughter and leaving Prasville absolutely dumbfounded.
The thing appeared to me as a dead certainty. And I found Vorenglade's address in Daubrecq's pocket-books, so... driver, Boulevard Raspail!" They went to the address given. Lupin sprang from the cab, ran up three flights of stairs. The servant said that M. Vorenglade was away and would not be back until dinner-time next evening. "And don't you know where he is?" "M. Vorenglade is in London, sir."
Word Of The Day
Others Looking