The Emperor's Letters explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Deception and Truth

  Lupin deceives the Emperor to gain freedom, while the truth of the letters and the culprit is gradually revealed.

• Madness and Duality

  Isilda's madness and her sudden lucidity before death highlight the theme of duality between reason and insanity.

• Power and Ambition

  The Emperor's authority and Lupin's ambition to recover the letters and secure his freedom drive the chapter.

Characters to notice

• Arsène Lupin

  Deciphers the mystery of the letters, gains the Emperor's trust, and is later drugged.

• Grand-Duke Hermann III

  Referenced for his dying clues that led to the hidden letters.

• Isilda de Malreich

  Appears in distress, reveals knowledge of the culprit, and dies by poison.

• Count von Waldemar

  Assists Lupin and the Emperor, conducts the search for the intruder.

• Herlock Sholmes

  Mentioned as having been on the wrong scent with Lupin.

Key passages

• “I understood that Sholmes and I had been on the wrong scent. apoon , the imperfect word written by the Grand-duke Hermann on his deathbed, is a contraction not of Apollon, but of Napoleon.”

  Lupin realizes that the dying Grand-Duke's word 'apoon' refers to Napoleon, not Apollo.

  Key clue in deciphering the hidden letters.

• “The number 12 evidently meant twelve o'clock. The hour of noon! The hour of midnight! Is this not the solemn moment which a man most readily selects?”

  Lupinfigured out that the number 12 signified midnight or noon, the time when the secret was hidden.

  Explanation of the clock mechanism.

• “She stretched out her arm toward the letters and nodded her head as though in assent. ... Then, suddenly, came silence, immobility. One last convulsive spasm. And she moved no more.”

  Isilda confirmed the letters L and M, then died suddenly from poison.

  Isilda's death reveals the culprit's fear of exposure.