"
"No; but Father Gelis claims that Sully concealed the key to the
mystery in this strange sentence in order to keep the secret from
the secretaries to whom he dictated his memoirs."
"That is an ingenious theory," said Velmont.
"Yes, and it may be nothing more; I cannot see that it throws any
light on the mysterious riddle."
"And was it also to receive the visit of a lady that Louis the
Sixteenth caused the passage to be opened?"
"I don't know," said Mon. Devanne. "All I can say is that the king
stopped here one night in 1784, and that the famous Iron Casket
found in the Louvre contained a paper bearing these words in the
king's own writing: `Thibermesnil 3-4-11.'"
Horace Velmont laughed heartily, and exclaimed:
"At last! And now that we have the magic key, where is the man who
can fit it to the invisible lock?"
"Laugh as much as you please, monsieur," said Father Gelis, "but I
am confident the solution is contained in those two sentences, and
some day we will find a man able to interpret them."
"Sherlock Holmes is the man," said Mon. Devanne, "unless Arsene
Lupin gets ahead of him. What is your opinion, Velmont?"
Velmont arose, placed his hand on Devanne's shoulder, and declared:
"I think that the information furnished by your book and the book
of the National Library was deficient in a very important detail
which you have now supplied.
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