“No one, master. He came like a sheep to the slaughter.”

“Princess Danidoff?”

“Ah, as for her – she must be waiting for the return of her lover... I do not advise you to pay her a visit!”

“Quit gibbering!” ordered the masked fiend sharply.

“Get rid of your clothes... We must hurry!... we have work to do!” “This evening?”

“This evening.”

And, whilst the diamond broker rid himself rapidly of skirt and bodice and regained his masculine appearance – for this lady was in fact a man – the hooded assassin added:

“Nibet, you have played your part perfectly, and I will pay you tomorrow the sum we agreed on; but, I repeat, we have work before us this evening – so, be quick!” There was a short silence, then the arch-criminal asked: “You have arranged to put among this fool’s papers the rent receipts, which will enable the police to find this flat?”

“Yes, master!”

“Good! Now all we have to do is to get away from this room, which we shall not see again – not until this evening, at any rate!”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE : IN A PRISON VAN

In one of the rooms reserved for readers of La Capitale, Jérôme Fandor was gravely listening to Madame Bourrat’s account of what had occurred at her boarding-house during the night. She had rushed off to tell him and to ask his advice. “What you tell me, madame, is truly extraordinary!” said Fandor, with an air of profound astonishment.

“How did you discover that the police inspector who seized the trunk and carried it away was not a genuine policeman?”

“Why, through the arrival of Monsieur Xavié, the police inspector of our district! I know him. There was no mistaking who and what he was; and when I told him that the trunk had been carried off the preceding evening, rather in the dead of night, he guessed everything.”

“ And what did he say?”

“Oh, he made us all come to the police station; and I can assure you he looked far from pleased!”

“You must admit, dear madame, that his annoyance was not without reason!... The police were made fine fools of in this affair... But afterwards?... Whom did he take back with him to the police station?”

“He took me and my manservant.”

“And when you got to the police station?”

“Well, Monsieur Fandor, when we reached the police station, he made us come into his office, and there he put us through a regular examination... just as though he suspected us!”

“But there must have been an accomplice in your house who let the robbers in,” said Fandor. “I do not suppose the false police inspector forced the door open!”