His cravat was a black ribbon pinned with a false
diamond. Thus accoutred, he descended the stairs of the house in
which he lived at Montmartre. At the third floor, without
stopping, he rapped on a closed door with the head of his cane. He
walked to the exterior boulevards. A tram-car was passing. He
boarded it, and some one who had been following him took a seat
beside him. It was the lodger who occupied the room on the third
floor. A moment later, this man said to Lupin:
"Well, governor?"
"Well, it is all fixed."
"How?"
"I am going there to breakfast."
"You breakfast--there!"
"Certainly. Why not? I rescued Mon. Ludovic Imbert from certain
death at your hands. Mon. Imbert is not devoid of gratitude. He
invited me to breakfast."
There was a brief silence. Then the other said:
"But you are not going to throw up the scheme?"
"My dear boy," said Lupin, "When I arranged that little case of
assault and battery, when I took the trouble at three o'clock in the
morning, to rap you with my cane and tap you with my boot at the
risk of injuring my only friend, it was not my intention to forego
the advantages to be gained from a rescue so well arranged and
executed.
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