“ P.S. ⁠—Please do not send the largest Watteau. Although you paid thirty thousand francs for it, it is only a copy, the original having been burned, under the Directoire by Barras, during a night of debauchery. Consult the memoirs of Garat.

“I do not care for the Louis XV chatelaine, as I doubt its authenticity.”

That letter completely upset the baron. Had it borne any other signature, he would have been greatly alarmed⁠—but signed by Arsène Lupin!