execution of his plans. After a fortnight of fruitless endeavours, he
was obliged to bow.
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*See 813, by Maurice Leblanc, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.
__________________________________________________________________________

He did so with a raging heart and a growing sense of anxiety.

"The difficult part of a business," he often says, "is not the finish,
but the start."

Where was he to start in the present circumstances? What road was he to
follow?

His thoughts recurred to Daubrecq the deputy, the original owner of the
crystal stopper, who probably knew its importance. On the other hand,
how was Gilbert aware of the doings and mode of life of Daubrecq the
deputy? What means had he employed to keep him under observation? Who
had told him of the place where Daubrecq spent the evening of that day?
These were all interesting questions to solve.

Daubrecq had moved to his winter quarters in Paris immediately after the
burglary at the Villa Marie-Therese and was now living in his own house,
on the left-hand side of the little Square Lamartine that opens out at
the end of the Avenue Victor-Hugo.

First disguising himself as an old gentleman of private means, strolling
about, cane in hand, Lupin spent his time in the neighbourhood, on the
benches of the square and the avenue. He made a discovery on the first