The first wireless dispatches from America brought no news; at
least, the captain did not communicate any to us. The silence was
not reassuring.

Our last day on the steamer seemed interminable. We lived in
constant fear of some disaster. This time, it would not be a
simple theft or a comparatively harmless assault; it would be a
crime, a murder. No one imagined that Arsene Lupin would confine
himself to those two trifling offenses. Absolute master of the
ship, the authorities powerless, he could do whatever he pleased;
our property and lives were at his mercy.

Yet those were delightful hours for me, since they secured to me
the confidence of Miss Nelly. Deeply moved by those startling
events and being of a highly nervous nature, she spontaneously
sought at my side a protection and security that I was pleased to
give her. Inwardly, I blessed Arsene Lupin. Had he not been the
means of bringing me and Miss Nelly closer to each other? Thanks
to him, I could now indulge in delicious dreams of love and
happiness--dreams that, I felt, were not unwelcome to Miss Nelly.
Her smiling eyes authorized me to make them; the softness of her
voice bade me hope.

As we approached the American shore, the active search for the
thief was apparently abandoned, and we were anxiously awaiting the
supreme moment in which the mysterious enigma would be explained.
Who was Arsene Lupin? Under what name, under what disguise was
the famous Arsene Lupin concealing himself? And, at last, that
supreme moment arrived. If I live one hundred years, I shall not
forget the slightest details of it.