Certainly, there was no
danger. No one in the world could force an entrance to the
sanctuary that contained his priceless treasures.
No one, perhaps, but Arsene Lupin! For him, gates, walls and
drawbridges did not exist. What use were the most formidable
obstacles or the most careful precautions, if Arsene Lupin had
decided to effect an entrance?
That evening, he wrote to the Procurer of the Republique at Rouen.
He enclosed the threatening letter and solicited aid and
protection.
The reply came at once to the effect that Arsene Lupin was in
custody in the Prison de la Sante, under close surveillance, with
no opportunity to write such a letter, which was, no doubt, the
work of some imposter. But, as an act of precaution, the Procurer
had submitted the letter to an expert in handwriting, who declared
that, in spite of certain resemblances, the writing was not that
of the prisoner.
But the words "in spite of certain resemblances" caught the
attention of the baron; in them, he read the possibility of a
doubt which appeared to him quite sufficient to warrant the
intervention of the law. His fears increased. He read Lupin's
letter over and over again.
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