“Twenty thousand francs! The checks of Mon. Andermatt?” I exclaimed, when he had given me the paper to read.

“Exactly. It was quite right that Varin should redeem his treachery.”

And that is how I made the acquaintance of Arsène Lupin. That is how I learned that Jean Daspry, a member of my club, was none other than Arsène Lupin, gentleman-thief. That is how I formed very agreeable ties of friendship with that famous man, and, thanks to the confidence with which he honored me, how I became his very humble and faithful historiographer.