Page:Leblanc Arsene Lupin (Doubleday, 1909).djvu/379

Rh "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!"