Chapter I: Preface

This is the story of the first adventure of Arsène Lupin, and undoubtedly it would have been published before the stories of the others if he had not so often and so resolutely opposed it.

“No,” he would say, “there are one or two little matters yet to be settled between the Countess of Cagliostro and me. We must wait.”

The waiting lasted longer than he foresaw. More than a quarter of a century passed before the final settlement; and only to-day am I permitted to relate the frightful duel of love and hate which brought a boy of twenty to grips with Cagliostro’s daughter.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I ARSÈNE LUPIN AT TWENTY 11

II JOSEPHINE BALSAMO BORN IN 1788 30

III A TRIBUNAL OF THE INQUISITION 46

IV THE SINKING BOAT 66

V ONE OF THE SEVEN BRANCHES 84

VI DETECTIVES AND POLICEMEN 102

VII THE DELIGHTS OF CAPUA 123

VIII TWO WILLS 143

IX THE TARPEIAN ROCK 166

X THE MUTILATED HAND 189

XI THE OLD LIGHTHOUSE 209

XII MADNESS AND GENIUS 229

XIII THE STRONG-BOX OF THE MONKS 259

XIV THE INFERNAL CREATURE 282