"
This sally was greeted with an outburst of laughter. The large
dining-hall of the Chateau de Thibermesnil contained on this
occasion, besides Valmont, the following guests: Father Gelis, the
parish priest, and a dozen officers whose regiments were quartered
in the vicinity and who had accepted the invitation of the banker
Georges Devanne and his mother. One of the officers then remarked:
"I understand that an exact description of Arsene Lupin has been
furnished to all the police along this coast since his daring
exploit on the Paris-Havre express."
"I suppose so," said Devanne. "That was three months ago; and a
week later, I made the acquaintance of our friend Velmont at the
casino, and, since then, he has honored me with several visits--an
agreeable preamble to a more serious visit that he will pay me one
of these days--or, rather, one of these nights."
This speech evoked another round of laughter, and the guests then
passed into the ancient "Hall of the Guards," a vast room with a
high ceiling, which occupied the entire lower part of the Tour
Guillaume--William's Tower--and wherein Georges Devanne had collected
the incomparable treasures which the lords of Thibermesnil had
accumulated through many centuries.
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