expose all my little tricks. That is a very serious matter."

"Was I wrong to count on your complaisance?"

"No, Ganimard, and since you insist---"

Arsene Lupin paced his cell two or three times, then, stopping
before Ganimard, he asked:

"What do you think of my letter to the baron?"

"I think you were amusing yourself by playing to the gallery."

"Ah! playing to the gallery! Come, Ganimard, I thought you knew
me better. Do I, Arsene Lupin, ever waste my time on such
puerilities? Would I have written that letter if I could have
robbed the baron without writing to him? I want you to understand
that the letter was indispensable; it was the motor that set the
whole machine in motion. Now, let us discuss together a scheme
for the robbery of the Malaquis castle. Are you willing?"

"Yes, proceed."

"Well, let us suppose a castle carefully closed and barricaded
like that of the Baron Cahorn. Am I to abandon my scheme and
renounce the treasures that I covet, upon the pretext that the
castle which holds them is inaccessible?"

"Evidently not."