"
"Why?"
"Your goods have been returned; Arsene Lupin is far away--there is
nothing for me to do."
"Yes, there is. I need your assistance. What happened yesterday,
may happen again to-morrow, as we do not know how he entered, or
how he escaped, or why, a few hours later, he returned the goods."
"Ah! you don't know--"
The idea of a problem to be solved quickened the interest of
Sherlock Holmes.
"Very well, let us make a search--at once--and alone, if possible."
Devanne understood, and conducted the Englishman to the salon. In
a dry, crisp voice, in sentences that seemed to have been prepared
in advance, Holmes asked a number of questions about the events of
the preceding evening, and enquired also concerning the guests and
the members of the household. Then he examined the two volumes of
the "Chronique," compared the plans of the subterranean passage,
requested a repetition of the sentences discovered by Father Gelis,
and then asked:
"Was yesterday the first time you have spoken hose two sentences to
any one?"
"Yes."
"You had never communicated then to Horace Velmont?"
"No."
"Well, order the automobile. I must leave in an hour.
Pages:
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258