contained nothing but a small piece of blue paper. At the request
of Arsene he unfolded it. It was a telegram, or rather a portion
of a telegram from which the post-marks had been removed. It read
as follows:

"Contract closed. Hundred thousand balls delivered. All well."

"One hundred thousand balls?" said Ganimard.

"Yes, one hundred thousand francs. Very little, but then, you
know, these are hard times....And I have some heavy bills to meet.
If you only knew my budget....living in the city comes very high."

Ganimard arose. His ill humor had disappeared. He reflected for
a moment, glancing over the whole affair in an effort to discover
a weak point; then, in a tone and manner that betrayed his
admiration of the prisoner, he said:

"Fortunately, we do not have a dozen such as you to deal with; if
we did, we would have to close up shop."

Arsene Lupin assumed a modest air, as he replied:

"Bah! a person must have some diversion to occupy his leisure
hours, especially when he is in prison."

"What!" exclaimed Ganimard, "your trial, your defense, the
examination--isn't that sufficient to occupy your mind?"

"No, because I have decided not to be present at my trial."