The governor's name, in point of fact, was Stanislas Borély, and he was forty-two years of age. He was a pleasant-looking man, with a very gentle character, who treated the prisoners with all the indulgence possible. He said to Lupin: "Your opinion of my subordinate's integrity was quite correct. Here is your money. It shall be handed to you at your release. . . . You will now go through the searching-room again." Lupin went with M. Borély to the little room reserved for this purpose, undressed and, while his clothes were inspected with justifiable suspicion, himself underwent a most fastidious examination. He was then taken back to his cell and M. Borély said: "I feel easier. That's done." "And very well done, Mr. Governor. Your men perform this sort of duty with a delicacy for which I should like to thank them by giving them a small token of my satisfaction." He handed a hundred-franc note to M. Borély, who jumped as though he had been shot: "Oh! . . . But . . . where does that come from?" "No need to rack your brains, Mr. Governor. A man like myself, leading the life that I do, is always prepared for any eventuality: and no mishap, however painful--not even imprisonment--can take him unawares." Seizing the middle finger of his left hand between the thumb and forefinger of the right, he pulled it off smartly and presented it calmly to M. Borély: "Don't start like that, Mr. Governor. This is not my finger, but just a tube, made of gold-beater's skin and cleverly colored, which fits exactly over my middle finger and gives the illusion of a real finger." And he added, with a laugh, "In such a way, of course, as to conceal a third hundred-franc note. . . . What is a poor man to do? He must carry the best purse he can . . . and must needs make use of it on occasions. . . ." He stopped at the sight of M. Borély's startled face: "Please don't think, Mr. Governor, that I wish to dazzle you with my little parlor-tricks. I only wanted to show you that you have to do with a . . . client of a rather . . . special nature and to tell you that you must not be surprised if I venture, now and again, to break the ordinary rules and regulations of your establishment." The governor had recovered himself. He said plainly: "I prefer to think that you will conform to the rules and not compel me to resort to harsh measures. . . ." "Which you would regret to have to enforce: isn't that it, Mr. Governor? That's just what I should like to spare you, by proving to you in advance that they would not prevent me from doing as I please: from corresponding with my friends, from defending the grave interests confided to me outside these walls, from writing to the newspapers that accept my inspiration, from pursuing the fulfilment of my plans and, lastly, from preparing my escape." "Your escape!" Lupin began to laugh heartily: "But think, Mr. Governor, my only excuse for being in prison is . . . to leave it!"