"Not a detail or a newspaper. Three years ago I was in the neighbourhood of the South Pole, and lost at that," said the Duke.
"But it was most dramatic, my dear Jacques. All Paris was talking of it," said Germaine. "Your portrait was stolen."
"Stolen? Who stole it?" said the Duke.
Germaine crossed the hall quickly to the gap in the line of pictures.
"I'll show you," she said.
She drew aside the piece of tapestry, and in the middle of the panel over which the portrait of the Duke had hung he saw written in chalk the words:
ARSÈNE LUPIN
"What do you think of that autograph?" said Germaine.
"'Arsène Lupin?'" said the Duke in a tone of some bewilderment.
"He left his signature. It seems that he always does so," said Sonia in an explanatory tone.
"But who is he?" said the Duke.
"Arsène Lupin? Surely you know who Arsène Lupin is?" said Germaine impatiently.
"I haven't the slightest notion," said the Duke.
