Holmlock Shears, the great English detective, and even Guerchard,
whom everybody says is the greatest detective we've had in France
since Vidocq. In fact, he's our national robber. Do you mean to say
you don't know him?"

"Not even enough to ask him to lunch at a restaurant," said the Duke
flippantly. "What's he like?"

"Like? Nobody has the slightest idea. He has a thousand disguises.
He has dined two evenings running at the English Embassy."

"But if nobody knows him, how did they learn that?" said the Duke,
with a puzzled air.

"Because the second evening, about ten o'clock, they noticed that
one of the guests had disappeared, and with him all the jewels of
the ambassadress."

"All of them?" said the Duke.

"Yes; and Lupin left his card behind him with these words scribbled
on it:"

"'This is not a robbery; it is a restitution. You took the Wallace
collection from us.'"

"But it was a hoax, wasn't it?" said the Duke.

"No, your Grace; and he has done better than that. You remember the
affair of the Daray Bank--the savings bank for poor people?" said