Fantômas, since it was Fantômas who was here, just now, Fantômas has got away!” And Nanteuil pointed to the broken window by which it would seem the criminal, taking advantage of the noise and gloom, had escaped.

But both Fandor and Juve shrugged doubtfully.

“You believe then, Monsieur Nanteuil, that Fantômas has left this room?” questioned the young journalist.

“What the devil do you mean?” asked Nanteuil.

Juve demanded:

“Which way did he make his escape?”

Nanteuil pointed.

“Why that way! By this window... where else? You can see quite well that he has broken the panes!... Why, look! His hooded cloak has got caught on the window latch!” Fandor sat back in an arm-chair. He seemed much amused. He silenced Juve with a gesture, and turned to Nanteuil.

“I can assure you, dear Monsieur Nanteuil, that Fantômas has not left the room by this window!”

“Because?”

“Because this window has been broken by means of this chair: this chair, which he flung against the panes to put us on the wrong scent, and make us believe he had escaped that way!... Just look at this chair – it is still strewn with broken bits of glass... look, there is even a little bit stuck into the wood.”

“But that proves nothing!... Fantômas has broken the window panes as best he could, and then made his escape!”

“In that case,” insisted Fandor, “dear Monsieur Nanteuil, can you explain how it was he troubled to remove his cloak, hood and all; and, after that, how is it he has left no footprints in the flower-beds beneath the window? When day dawns, you will see for yourself that my statement is correct, though I have not yet verified it! The flower-beds are too wide, too big, for a man, jumping from here, to jump clear of them! And the earth is soft enough to take and retain the footprints of a man who leaps down on to them from this height... that’s if he survived the fall! Nevertheless, such footprints are undoubtedly conspicuous by their absence!” Monsieur Barbey seemed overwhelmed – aghast.

“If Fantômas did not escape by the window, how then did he get away?” he asked.

Fandor said in clear, distinct tones:

“Fantômas was not able to escape!”

“But, he cannot be in the room? Where, then, can he have hidden himself?”

In a hard voice, Fandor made answer:

“He is not hidden in the room.”

“You think then that he has hidden himself somewhere in the house?”