| Plot Summary |
Mrs. Josette Percy is left a large legacy by her rich uncle, James Gordon, and the only clew he left as to where it may be found is contained in the following abstract of his will: "I bequeath to my niece, Josette Percy, my entire estate, which is safely hidden in a place indicated by the directions written in my hand in ink that only becomes legible when subjected to heat. The writing will be found on the back of my prehistoric Egyptian parchment X.L.B. in my strongbox on the library table in my house in Paris." This parchment she finds has been stolen. She is in despair until, while reading the morning paper, she sees an account of the liberation of the famous Lupin from prison. It takes a thief to catch a thief so she appeals to him to recover her fortune. The accommodating Lupin soon decides the famous Egyptian collector, Sir Rhulend, would know if it had been offered for sale, and sure enough Sir Rhulend has bought it. In the night-time he cleverly picks the safe and secures the document, but disturbed by a noise leaves the safe door open. A trusted servant steals the priceless antique jewelry also kept there, and Lupin is forced to set about tracing this too. He identifies the servant's thumb prints on the safe door with those on the bottom of a smoked plate and shadows the thief to his confederates' den. The thieves capture him, but he cleverly makes his escape, not forgetting to take the jewelry. He replaces the real stones with imitation ones and returns them to Sir Rhulend, wins Mrs. Percy's love and flees with her, leaving poor Sir Rhulend a gently sarcastic note to console him for his loss.
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