Fantômas

by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain

  VI. "FANTOMAS, IT IS DEATH!"

  Hurrying back towards the chateau with the sergeant, Juve ran into M. dePresles outside the park gate. The magistrate had just arrived fromBrives in a motor-car which he had commandeered for his personal useduring the last few days.

  "Well," said Juve in his quiet, measured tones, "have you heard thenews?" And as the magistrate looked at him in surprise he went on: "Igather from your expression that you have not. Well, sir, if you willkindly fill up a warrant we will arrest M. Charles Rambert."

  Juve briefly repeated to the magistrate what the sergeant had reportedto him, and the sergeant added a few further details. The three men hadnow reached the foot of the steps before the house and were about to goup when the door of the chateau was opened and Dollon appeared. Hehurried towards them, with unkempt hair and haggard face, and excitedlyexclaimed:

  "Didn't you meet the Ramberts? Where are they? Where are they?"

  The magistrate, who was bewildered by what Juve had told him, was tryingto form a coherent idea of the whole sequence of events, but thedetective realised the situation at once, and turned to the sergeant.

  "The bird has flown," he said. The sergeant threw up his hands indismay.

  * * * * *

  Inside the hall Juve and M. de Presles ordered Dollon to give them anexact account of the discovery made by Therese in the course of theprevious night.

  "Well, gentlemen," said the old fellow, who was greatly upset by thediscovery of the murderer of the Marquise de Langrune, "when I got tothe chateau early this morning I found the two old servants, Marie andLouise, entirely occupied attending to the young mistress. Marie sleptin an adjoining room to hers last night, and was awakened about fiveo'clock by the poor child's inarticulate cries. Mlle. Therese was bathedin perspiration; her face was all drawn and there were dark rings underher eyes; she was sleeping badly and evidently having a dreadfulnightmare. She half woke up several times and muttered someunintelligible words to Marie, who thought that it was the result ofover-excitement. But about six o'clock, just as I arrived, Mlle. Theresereally woke up, and bursting into a fit of sobbing and crying, repeatedthe names of her grandmother and the Ramberts and the Baronne de Vibray.She kept on saying, 'The murderer! the murderer!' and making all sortsof signs of terror, but we were not able to get from her a clearstatement of what it was all about. I felt her pulse and found she wasvery feverish, and Louise prepared a cooling drink, which she persuadedher to take. In about twenty minutes--it was then nearly half-pastsix--Mlle. Therese quietened down, and managed to tell us what she hadheard during the night, and the dreadful interview and conversationbetween M. Rambert and his son which she had seen and overheard."

  "What did you do then?" enquired M. de Presles.

  "I was dreadfully upset myself, sir, and I sent Jean, the coachman, toSaint-Jaury to fetch the doctor and also to let Sergeant Doucet know.Sergeant Doucet got here first; I told him all I knew, and then I wentupstairs with the doctor to see Mlle. Therese."

  The magistrate turned to the police-sergeant and questioned him.

  "Directly M. Dollon told me his story," the sergeant replied, "I thoughtit my duty to report to M. Juve, who I knew was not far from thechateau, on his way to Verrieres: M. Juve told me last night that hemeant to explore that part in the early morning. I left Morand on dutyat the entrance to the chateau, with orders to prevent either of theRamberts from leaving."

  "And Morand did not see them going away?" the magistrate asked.

  Juve had already divined what had happened, and replied for thesergeant.

  "Morand did not see them go out for the obvious reason that they hadleft long before--in the middle of the night, directly after theiraltercation: in a word, before Mlle. Therese woke up." He turned to thesergeant. "What has been done since then?"

  "Nothing, Inspector."

  "Well, sergeant," said Juve. "I imagine his worship will order you tosend out your men at once after the runaways." As a matter of courtesyhe glanced at the magistrate as if asking for his approval, but he onlydid so out of politeness, for he took it for granted.

  "Of course!" said the magistrate; "please do so at once." The sergeantturned on his heel and left the hall.

  "Where is Mlle. Therese?" M. de Presles asked Dollon, who was standingnervously apart.

  "She is sleeping quietly just now, sir," said the steward, comingforward. "The doctor is with her, and would rather she were notdisturbed, if you have no objection."

  "Very well," said the magistrate. "Leave us, please," and Dollon alsowent away.

  Juve and M. de Presles looked at one another. The magistrate was thefirst to break the silence.

  "So it is finished?" he remarked. "So this Charles Rambert is theculprit?"

  Juve shook his head.

  "Charles Rambert? Well, he ought to be the culprit."

  "Why that reservation?" enquired the magistrate.

  "I say 'ought to be,' for all the circumstances point to thatconclusion, and yet in my bones I don't believe he is."

  "Surely the presumptions of his guilt, his pseudo-confession, or atleast his silence in face of his father's formal accusation, may make ussure he is," said M. de Presles.

  "There are some presumptions in favour of his innocence too," Juvereplied, but with a slight hesitation.

  The magistrate pressed his point.

  "Your investigations formally demonstrated the fact that the crime wascommitted by some person who was inside the house."

  "Possibly," said Juve, "but not certainly. The probabilities do notallow us to assert it as a fact."

  "Explain yourself."

  "Not so fast, sir," Juve replied, and getting up he added: "There isnothing for us to do here, sir; shall we go up to the room CharlesRambert occupied?"

  M. de Presles followed the detective, and the two men went into theroom, which was as plainly furnished as that of any young girl. Themagistrate installed himself comfortably in an easy chair and lighted acigar, while Juve walked up and down, scrutinising everything withquick, sharp glances, and began to talk:

  "I said 'not so fast' just now, sir, and I will tell you why: in myopinion there are two preliminary points in this affair which it isimportant to clear up: the nature of the crime, and the motive which canhave actuated the criminal. Let us take up these two points, and firstof all ask ourselves how the murder of the Marquise de Langrune ought tobe 'classified' in the technical sense. The first conclusion which mustbe impressed upon the mind of any observant person who has visited thescene of the crime and examined the corpse of the victim is, that thismurder must be placed in the category of crapulous crimes. The murdererseems to have left the implicit mark of his character upon his victim;the very violence of the blows dealt shows that he is a man of the lowerorders, a typical criminal, a professional."

  "What do you deduce that from?" M. de Presles enquired.

  "Simply from the nature of the wound. You saw it, as I did. Mme. deLangrune's throat was almost entirely severed by the blade of somecutting instrument. The breadth and depth of the wound absolutely provethat it was not made with one stroke; the murderer must have gone amokand dealt several blows--have gone on striking even when death hadfinished his work, or at least was quite inevitable; that shows clearlythat the murderer belongs to a class of individuals who feel norepugnance for their horrid work, but who kill without horror, and evenwithout excitement. Again, the nature of the wound shows that themurderer is a strong man; you no doubt know that weak men with feeblemuscles strike 'deep' by choice, that is to say with a pointed weaponand aiming at a vital organ, whereas powerful murderers have apredilection for blows dealt 'superficially,' and for broad, ghastlywounds. Besides, that is only following a natural law; a weak manfinesses with death, tries to make sure of it at some precise point,penetrating the heart or severing an artery; a brutal man does not carewhere he hits, but trusts to his own brute strength to achieve hispurpose.

  "We have next to determine the sort of weapon with
which the murder wascommitted. We have not got it, at any rate up to the present; I havegiven orders for the drains to be emptied, and the pond to be draggedand the shrubberies to be searched, but, whether our search is crownedwith success or not, I am convinced that the instrument was a knife, oneof those common knives with a catch lock that apaches always carry. Ifthe murderer had had a weapon whose point was its principal danger, hewould have stabbed, and stabbed to the heart, instead of cutting; but heused the edge, the part of a knife that is most habitually used, and heactually cut. When the first wound was made he did not strike anywhereelse, but continued working away at the wound and enlarging it. It is apoint of capital importance that this murder was committed with a knife,not with a dagger or stiletto, and therefore this is a crapulous crime."

  "And what conclusion do you draw from the fact that the crime is acrapulous one?" the magistrate proceeded to enquire.

  "Merely that it cannot have been committed by Charles Rambert," Juveanswered very gravely. "He is a young man who has been well brought up,he comes of very good stock, and his age makes it most improbable thathe can be a professional criminal."

  "Obviously, obviously!" murmured the magistrate, not a littleembarrassed by the keen logic of the detective.

  "And now let us consider the motive or motives of the crime," Juvecontinued. "Why did the man commit this murder?"

  "Doubtless for purposes of robbery," said the magistrate.

  "What did he want to steal?" Juve retorted. "As a matter of fact, Mme.de Langrune's diamond rings and watch and purse were all found on hertable, in full view of everybody; in the drawers that had been brokenopen I found other jewels, over twenty pounds in gold and silver, andthree bank-notes in a card-case. What is your view, sir, of a crapulousrobber who sees valuables like that within his reach, and who does nottake them?"

  "It is certainly surprising," the magistrate admitted.

  "Very surprising; and goes to show that although the crime in itself isa common, sordid one, the criminal may have had higher, or at any ratedifferent, aspirations from those which would lead an ordinary ruffianto commit murder for the sake of robbery. The age and social positionand personality of Mme. de Langrune make it very unlikely that she hadenemies, or was the object of vengeance, and therefore if she was gotrid of, it was very likely that she might be robbed--but robbed of what?Was there something more important than money or jewels to be got? Ifrankly admit that although I put the question I am at a loss how toanswer it."

  "Obviously," murmured the magistrate again, still more puzzled by allthese logical deductions.

  Juve proceeded with the development of his ideas.

  "And now suppose we are face to face with a crime committed without anymotive, as a result of some morbid impulse, a by no means uncommonoccurrence, monomania or temporary insanity?

  "In that case, although, in consequence of the crapulous nature of thecrime, I had previously dismissed the very serious presumption of guiltattaching to young Rambert, I should be inclined to reconsider myopinion and think it possible that he might be the culprit. We know verylittle about the young fellow from the physiological point of view; infact we don't know him at all; but it seems that his family is notaltogether normal, and I understand that his mother's mental conditionis precarious. If for a moment we regard Charles Rambert as ahysterical subject, we can associate him with the murder of the Marquisede Langrune without thereby destroying our case that the crime is acrapulous one, for a man of only medium physical strength, whensuffering from an attack of mental alienation, has his muscular powerincreased at least tenfold during his paroxysms. Under such influence asthat Charles Rambert might have committed murder with all the fiercebrutality of a giant!

  "But I shall soon be in possession of absolutely accurate knowledge asto the muscular strength of the murderer," Juve proceeded. "Quite latelyM. Bertillon invented a marvellous dynamometer which enables us not onlyto ascertain what kind of lever has been used to force a lock or a pieceof furniture, but also to determine the exact strength of the individualwho used the tools. I have taken samples of the wood from the brokendrawer, and I shall soon have exact information."

  "That will be immensely important," M. de Presles agreed. "Even if itdoes away with our present certainty of Charles Rambert's guilt, weshall be able to find out whether the murder was committed by any otheroccupant of the house--still assuming that it was committed by somemember of the household."

  "With regard to that," said Juve, "we can proceed with our method ofdeduction and eliminate from our field of observation everybody who hasa good alibi or other defence; it will be so much ground cleared. For myown part I find it impossible to suspect the two old maidservants,Louise and Marie; the tramps whom we have detained and subsequentlyreleased are too simple-minded, elementary people to have been capableof devising the minute precautions which demonstrate the subtlecleverness of the man who murdered the Marquise. Then there is Dollon;but I imagine you will agree with me in thinking that his alibi removeshim from suspicion--more especially as the medical evidence proves thatthe murder was committed during the night, between two and threeo'clock."

  "Only M. Etienne Rambert is left," the magistrate put in, "and aboutnine o'clock that evening he left the d'Orsay station in the slow trainwhich reaches Verrieres at 6.55 A.M. He spent the whole night in thetrain, for he certainly arrived by that one. He could not have a betteralibi."

  "Not possibly," Juve replied. "So we need only trouble ourselves withCharles Rambert," and warming up to the subject the detective proceededto pile up a crushing indictment against the young man. "The crime wascommitted so quietly that not the faintest sound was heard; thereforethe murderer was in the house; he went to the Marquise's room andannounced his arrival by a cautious tap on the door; the Marquise thenopened the door to him, and was not surprised to see him, for she knewhim quite well; he went into her room with her and----"

  "Oh, come, come!" M. de Presles broke in; "you are romancing now, M.Juve; you forget that the bedroom door was forced, the best proof ofthat being the bolt, which was found wrenched away and hanging literallyat the end of the screws."

  "I was expecting you to say that, sir," said Juve with a smile. "Butbefore I reply I should like to show you something rather quaint." Heled the way across the passage and went into the bedroom of theMarquise, where order had now been restored; the dead body had beenremoved to the library, which was transformed into a _chapelle ardente_,and two nuns were watching over it there. "Have a good look at thisbolt," he said to M. de Presles. "Is there anything unusual about it?"

  "No," said the magistrate.

  "Yes, there is," said Juve; "the slide-bolt is out, as when the bolt isfastened, but the socket into which the slide-bolt slips to fasten thedoor to the wall is intact. If the bolt really had been forced, thesocket would have been wrenched away too." Juve next asked M. de Preslesto look closely at the screws that were wrenched halfway out of thedoor. "Do you see anything on those?"

  The magistrate pointed to their heads.

  "There are tiny scratches on them," he said, rather hesitatingly, for inhis inmost heart he knew the detective's real superiority over himself,"and from those I must infer that the screws have not been wrenched outby the pressure exerted on the bolt, but really unscrewed, andtherefore----"

  "And therefore," Juve broke in, "this is a mere blind, from which we maycertainly draw the conclusion that the murderer wished to make usbelieve that the door was forced, whereas in reality it was opened tohim by the Marquise. Therefore the murderer was personally known toher!"

  "The murderer was personally known to her," he repeated. "Now I shouldlike to remind you of young Charles Rambert's equivocal behaviour in thecourse of the evening that preceded the crime. It struck PresidentBonnet and shocked the priest. I also recall his hereditary antecedents,his mothers insanity, and finally----" Juve broke off abruptly andunceremoniously dragged the magistrate out of the room and into CharlesRambert's bedroom. He hurried into the dressing-room adjoining, we
ntdown on his knees on the floor, and laid a finger on the middle of theoil-cloth that was laid over the boards. "What do you see there, sir?"he demanded.

  The magistrate adjusted his eyeglass and, looking at the place indicatedby the detective, saw a little black stain; he wetted his finger, rubbedit on the spot, and then, holding up his hand, observed that the tip ofhis finger was stained red.

  "It is blood," he muttered.

  "Yes, blood," said Juve, "and I gather from this that the story of theblood-stained towel which M. Rambert senior found among his son'sthings, and the sight of which so greatly impressed Mlle. Therese, wasnot an invention on that young lady's part, but really existed; and itforms the most damning evidence possible against the young man. Heobviously washed his hands after the crime in the water from the tapover this wash-hand basin here, but one drop of blood falling on thetowel and dripping on to the floor has been enough to give him away."

  The magistrate nodded.

  "It is conclusive," he said. "You have just proved to demonstration, M.Juve, that Charles Rambert is the guilty party. It is beyond argument.It is conclusive--conclusive!"

  There were a couple of seconds of silence, and then Juve suddenly said"No!"

  "No!" he repeated; "it is quite true that we can adduce perfectlylogical arguments to show that the murder was committed by some memberof the household and that, therefore, Charles Rambert is the onlypossible culprit; but we can adduce equally logical arguments to showthat the crime was committed by some person who got in from outside:there is nothing to prove that he did not walk into the house throughthe front door."

  "The door was locked," said the magistrate.

  "That's nothing," said Juve with a laugh. "Don't forget that there isn'tsuch a thing as a real safety lock nowadays--since all locks can beopened with an outside key. If I had found one of the good old-fashionedcatch locks on the door, such as they used to make years ago, I shouldhave said to you: nobody got in, because the only way to get through adoor fastened with one of those locks is to break the door down. Buthere we have a lock that can be opened with a key. Now the key does notexist of which one cannot get an impression, and there is not such athing as an impression from which one cannot manufacture a false key.The murderer could easily have got into the house with a duplicate key."

  The magistrate raised a further objection.

  "If the murderer had got in from outside he would inevitably have leftsome traces round about the chateau, but there aren't any."

  "Yes there are," Juve retorted. "First of all there is this piece of anordnance map which I found yesterday between the chateau and theembankment." He took it from his pocket as he spoke. "It is an oddcoincidence that this scrap shows the neighbourhood of the chateau ofBeaulieu."

  "That doesn't prove anything," said the magistrate. "To find a piece ofa map of our district in our district is the most natural thingpossible. Now if you were to discover the rest of this map in anybody'spossession, then----"

  "You may rest assured that I shall try to do so with the least possibledelay," said Juve gently. "But this is not the only argument I have tosupport my theory. This morning, when I was walking near the embankment,I found some very suspicious footprints. It is true there are any numberof footprints near the end of the Verrieres tunnel, where the navviesare at work. But at the other end of the tunnel, where there is nooccasion for anyone to pass by, I found that the earth of theembankment, which was crisp with the frost, had been disturbed, showingthat someone had clambered up the embankment; the tips of his shoes hadbeen driven into the earth, and I could see distinctly where his feethad been placed; but unfortunately the soil there is so dry that thefootprints were too faint for me to hope to be able to identify themaker of them. But the fact remains that someone did climb up theembankment, someone who was making for the railway."

  The magistrate did not seem to be impressed by Juve's discovery.

  "And pray what conclusion do you think ought to be drawn from that?" heenquired.

  Juve sat down in an easy chair, threw back his head and closed his eyesas if he were about to indulge in a long soliloquy, and began to expresshis thoughts aloud.

  "Suppose we were to combine the two hypotheses into one; to wit, thatthe murderer was in the chateau prior to the accomplishment of the crimeand left the chateau directly it was accomplished. What should you say,sir, of a criminal completing his deed, then hurrying over the couple ofmiles that separate Beaulieu from the railway, and catching a passingtrain, and on his way climbing the embankment at the spot where I foundthe footprints I mentioned."

  "I should say," the magistrate replied, "that you can't jump into amoving train as you can into a passing tram, and further, that at nightnone but express trains run between Brives and Cahors."

  "All right," said Juve: "I will merely point out that owing to the workon the line at present, all trains have stopped at the beginning of thetunnel for the last two months. If the murderer had planned to escape inthat way he might very well have been aware of this regular stoppage."

  The magistrates confidence was a little shaken by these new deductionson the part of the detective, but he submitted yet another objection.

  "We have not found any traces round about the chateau."

  "Strictly speaking, no, we have not," Juve admitted; "but it is clearthat if the murderer walked on the grass, and he probably did so, hewalked on it during the night, that is to say, before the morning dew.Now everybody knows that when the dew rises in the early morning, grassthat has been bent down by any passing man or animal, stands up again inits original position, thereby destroying all traces; so if the murdererdid walk on the lawn when he was getting away, nobody could tell that hehad done so. Nevertheless, on the lawn in front of the window of theroom where the murder was committed I have observed, not exactlyfootprints, but signs that the earth has been disturbed at that spot. Iimagine that if I were to jump out of a first floor window on to thesoft surface of a lawn, and wanted to efface the marks of my boots, Ishould smooth the earth and the grass around them in just the same waythat the little piece of lawn I speak of seems to have been smoothed."

  "I should like to have a look at that," said M. de Presles.

  "Well, there's no difficulty about it," Juve replied. "Come along."

  The two men hurried down the staircase and out of the house. When theyreached the patch of grass which the inspector said had been "made up,"they crouched down and scrutinised it closely. Just by the side of thegrass, even overhanging it a little, a large rhubarb plant outspread itsthick, dentelated leaves almost parallel with the soil. Juve happened toglance casually at the nearest leaf, and uttered an exclamation ofsurprise and gratification.

  "Gad, here's something interesting!" and he drew the magistrate'sattention to some little pilules of earth with which the plant waspeppered.

  "What is that?" enquired M. de Presles.

  "Earth," said Juve, who had swept the top of the leaf with the palm ofhis hand; "ordinary earth, like the rest ten inches below, on thegrass."

  "Well, what about it?" said the puzzled magistrate.

  "Well," said Juve with a smile, "I imagine that ordinary earth, or anykind of earth, has no power to move of its own volition, much less tojump up ten inches into the air and settle on the top of a leaf, even arhubarb leaf! So I conclude that since this earth did not get here byitself it was brought here. How? That is very simple! Somebody hasjumped on to the grass there, M. de Presles; he has removed the marks ofhis feet by smoothing the earth with his hands; the earth soiled hishands, and he rubbed one against the other quite mechanically; the earthwhich was on his hands fell off in little balls on to the rhubarb leaf,and remained there for us to discover. And so it is certain--this is oneproof more--that even if the murderer did not get in from outside, hedid at any rate take to flight after he had committed the crime."

  "So it can't be Charles Rambert after all," said the magistrate.

  "It 'ought to be' Charles Rambert!" was Juve's baffling reply.
/>   The magistrate waxed irritable.

  "My dear sir, your everlasting contradictions end by being ratherabsurd! You have hardly finished building up one laborious theory beforeyou start knocking it down again. I fail to understand you."

  Juve smiled at M. de Presles' sudden irritability, but quickly becamegrave again.

  "I am anxious not to be led away by any preconceived opinion. I put thehypothesis that so and so is guilty, and examine all the arguments insupport of that theory; then I submit that the crime was committed bysomebody else, and proceed in the same way. My method certainly has theobjection that it confronts every argument with a diametrically oppositeone, but we are not concerned with establishing any one case inpreference to another--it is the truth, and nothing else, that we haveto discover."

  "And that is tantamount to saying that in spite of the overwhelmingcircumstantial evidence, and in spite of the fact that he has run away,Charles Rambert is innocent?"

  "Charles Rambert is the culprit, sir," Juve replied brightly. "If hewere not, whom else could we possibly suspect?"

  The detective's placidity and his perpetual self-contradictionsexasperated M. de Presles. He held his tongue, and was silentlyrevolving the case in his mind when Juve made yet one more suggestion.

  "There is one final hypothesis which I feel obliged to put before you.Do you realise, sir, that this is a typical Fantomas crime?"

  M. de Presles shrugged his shoulders as the detective pronounced thishalf-mythical name.

  "Upon my word, M. Juve, I should never have expected you to invokeFantomas! Why, Fantomas is the too obvious subterfuge, the cheapestdevice for investing a case with mock honours. Between you and me, youknow perfectly well that Fantomas is merely a legal fiction--a lawyers'joke. Fantomas has no existence in fact!"

  Juve stopped in his stride. He paused a moment before replying; thenspoke in a restrained voice, but with an emphasis on his words thatalways marked him when he spoke in all seriousness.

  "You are wrong to laugh, sir; very wrong. You are a magistrate and I amonly a humble detective inspector, but you have three or four years'experience, perhaps less, while I have fifteen years' work behind me. Iknow that Fantomas does exist, and I do anything but laugh when Isuspect his intervention in a case."

  M. de Presles could hardly conceal his surprise, and Juve went on:

  "No one has ever said of me, sir, that I was a coward. I have lookeddeath in the eyes; I have often hunted and arrested criminals who wouldnot have had the least hesitation in doing away with me. There are wholegangs of rascals who have vowed my death. All manner of horriblerevenges threaten me to-day. For all that I have the most completeindifference! But when people talk to me of Fantomas, when I fancy thatI can detect the intervention of that genius of crime in any case, then,M. de Presles, I am in a funk! I tell you frankly I am in a funk. I amfrightened, because Fantomas is a being against whom it is idle to useordinary weapons; because he has been able to hide his identity andelude all pursuit for years; because his daring is boundless and hispower unmeasurable; because he is everywhere and nowhere at once and, ifhe has had a hand in this affair, I am not even sure that he is notlistening to me now! And finally, M. de Presles, because every one whomI have known to attack Fantomas, my friends, my colleagues, my superiorofficers, have one and all, one and all, sir, been beaten in the fight!Fantomas does exist, I know, but who is he? A man can brave a danger hecan measure, but he trembles when confronted with a peril he suspectsbut cannot see."

  "But this Fantomas is not a devil," the magistrate broke in testily; "heis a man like you and me!"

  "You are right, sir, in saying he is a man; but I repeat, the man is agenius! I don't know whether he works alone or whether he is the head ofa gang of criminals; I know nothing of his life; I know nothing of hisobject. In no single case yet has it been possible to determine theexact part he has taken. He seems to possess the extraordinary gift ofbeing able to slay and leave no trace. You don't see him; you divine hispresence: you don't hear him; you have a presentiment of him. IfFantomas is mixed up in this present affair, I don't know if we evershall succeed in clearing it up!"

  M. de Presles was impressed in spite of himself by the detective'searnestness.

  "But I suppose you are not recommending me to drop the enquiry, are you,Juve?"

  The detective forced a laugh that did not ring quite true.

  "Come, come, sir," he answered, "I told you just now that I wasfrightened, but I never said I was a coward. You may be quite sure Ishall do my duty, to the very end. When I first began--and that was notyesterday, nor yet the day before--to realise the importance and thepower of this Fantomas, I took an oath, sir, that some day I woulddiscover his identity and effect his arrest! Fantomas is an enemy ofsociety, you say? I prefer to regard him first and foremost as my ownpersonal enemy! I have declared war on him, and I am ready to lose myskin in the war if necessary, but by God I'll have his!"

  Juve ceased. M. de Presles also was silent. But the magistrate wasstill sceptical, despite the detective's strange utterance, andpresently he could not refrain from making a gentle protest and appeal.

  "Do please bring in a verdict against someone, M. Juve, for really Iwould rather believe that your Fantomas is--a creation of theimagination!"

  Juve shrugged his shoulders, seemed to be arriving at a mighty decision,and began:

  "You are quite right, sir, to require me to draw some definiteconclusion, even if you are not right in denying the existence ofFantomas. So I make the assertion that the murderer is----"

  * * * * *

  The sound of hurrying steps behind them made both men turn round. Apostman, hot and perspiring, was hurrying to the chateau; he had atelegram in his hand.

  "Does either of you gentlemen know M. Juve?" he asked.

  "My name is Juve," said the detective, and he took the telegram and torethe envelope open. He glanced through it and then handed it to themagistrate.

  "Please read that, sir," he said.

  The telegram was from the Criminal Investigation Department, and ran asfollows:

  * * * * *

  "Return immediately to Paris. Are convinced that extraordinary crimelies behind disappearance of Lord Beltham. Privately, suspect Fantomas'work."