"No!" cried Lupin.
"You won't?" wailed Sonia in a heartrending tone.
"I can't!" cried Lupin.
"You ought not to be like this. . . . Last night . . . if you were going to let me go like this . . . last night . . . it was wrong," she wailed, and turned to go.
"Wait, Sonia! Wait!" cried Lupin hoarsely. "A moment ago you said something. . . . You said that the mere presence of a thief would overwhelm you with disgust. Is that true?"
"Yes, I swear it is," cried Sonia.
Guerchard appeared in the doorway.
"And if I were not the man you believe?" said Lupin sombrely.
"What?" said Sonia; and a faint bewilderment mingled with her grief.
"If I were not the Duke of Charmerace?"
"Not the Duke?"
"If I were not an honest man?" said Lupin.
"You?" cried Sonia.
"If I were a thief? If I were——"
"Arsène Lupin," jeered Guerchard from the door.
Lupin turned and held out his manacled wrists for her to see.
"Arsène Lupin! . . . it's . . . it's true!"
