"He is wherever I am. He threatens me with his constant hatred. It was he who guessed that I was M. Lenormand, the chief of the detective-service; it was he who had me put in prison; it was he, again, who pursued me, on the day when I came out. Yesterday, aiming at me in the motor, he wounded Count von Waldemar." "But how do you know, how can you be sure that he is at Veldenz?" "Isilda has received two gold coins, two French coins!" "And what is he here for? With what object?" "I don't know, Sire, but he is the very spirit of evil. Your Imperial Majesty must be on your guard: he is capable of anything and everything." "It is impossible! I have two hundred men in the ruins. He cannot have entered. He would have been seen." "Some one has seen him, beyond a doubt." "Who?" "Isilda." "Let her be questioned! Waldemar, take your prisoner to where the girl is." Lupin showed his bound hands: "It will be a tough battle. Can I fight like this?" The Emperor said to the count: "Unfasten him. . . . And keep me informed." In this way, by a sudden effort, bringing the hateful vision of the murder into the discussion, boldly, without evidence, Arsène Lupin gained time and resumed the direction of the search: "Sixteen hours still," he said to himself, "it's more than I want." * * * * * He reached the premises occupied by Isilda, at the end of the old out-buildings. These buildings served as barracks for the two hundred soldiers guarding the ruins; and the whole of this, the left wing, was reserved for the officers. Isilda was not there. The count sent two of his men to look for her. They came back. No one had seen the girl. Nevertheless, she could not have left the precincts of the ruins. As for the Renascence palace, it was, so to speak, invested by one-half of the troops; and no one was able to obtain admittance. At last, the wife of a subaltern who lived in the next house declared that she had been sitting at her window all day and that the girl had not been out. "If she hadn't gone out," said Waldemar, "she would be here now: and she is not here." Lupin observed: "Is there a floor above?" "Yes, but from this room to the upper floor there is no staircase." "Yes, there is." He pointed to a little door opening on a dark recess. In the shadow, he saw the first treads of a staircase as steep as a ladder. "Please, my dear count," he said to Waldemar, who wanted to go up, "let me have the honor." "Why?" "There's danger." He ran up and at once sprang into a low and narrow loft. A cry escaped him: "Oh!" "What is it?" asked the count, emerging in his turn. "Here . . . on the floor. . . . Isilda. . . ." He knelt down beside the girl, but, at the first glance, saw that she was simply stunned and that she bore no trace of a wound, except a few scratches on the wrists and hands. A handkerchief was stuffed into her mouth by way of a gag.