“Yesterday, through contumacy, Arsène Lupin was sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment at hard labor. Therefore it is improbable that he would be so imprudent, today, as to show himself in public. Moreover, the newspapers have announced his appearance in Turkey since his escape from the Santé.”

“But he is on this train at the present moment,” the lady proclaimed, with the obvious intention of being heard by our companion; “my husband is one of the directors in the penitentiary service, and it was the stationmaster himself who told us that a search was being made for Arsène Lupin.”

“They may have been mistaken⁠—”

“No; he was seen in the waiting-room. He bought a first-class ticket for Rouen.”

“Surely, it would be an easy matter to find him on the train.”