It was a vain quest: Fantômas had vanished, leaving not a trace behind, and the disgusted detective, now convinced that he had followed a false trail, returned to France.

He determined to set himself to study anew the prison world; he was all the more interested in it because, before his supposed death, Juve had effected the arrest of several members of a band of which Fantômas was the leader. Among these were the Cooper, the Beard, and old Mother Toulouche.

Then, at the prison connected with the asylum, Juve had come across a warder who, some years previous to this, had been the warder in charge of a man condemned to death, one Gurn, who had not been guillotined because a substituted person had been executed in his stead. Juve was convinced that the condemned criminal was none other than Fantômas. Juve strongly suspected that this warder, Nibet by name, knew a great deal about this old affair. But soon Nibet passed to the Dépôt. The accomplices of Fantômas, having served the time of their respective sentences, some at Melun, others at Clermont, all this nice collection of criminals would meet once more on the pavements of Paris.

Juve therefore had pressing reasons for mingling with this charming crowd!

Fandor had followed Juve’s rapid narrative with the most intense interest.

“And then, Juve, what then?” insisted Fandor.

“And then,” said the detective, “to make an end of it – for we must not be forever going over the past adventures – let me tell you, that after many and diverse happenings, a band of smugglers and false coiners, among whom are to be found individuals already known to you, notably the Beard, the Cooper, and also that wretch of a Mother Toulouche, one fine day made the acquaintance of a poor sort of creature, simple-minded and anything but sharp witted – an individual who goes by the name of Cranajour!”

“Cranajour? “ queried Fandor. “I don’t in the least understand.”

“Yes, Cranajour,” repeated Juve. “Here is how it came about. You remember when Fantômas got an unfortunate actor named Valgrand executed in his stead?

Well, our mysterious Fantômas, the better to mislead and bamboozle those who might suspect this atrocious jugglery, our felon of genius – for Fantômas has genius – took the personality of Valgrand for several hours, and even dared to go to the theatre where the real Valgrand was playing.

However, as Fantômas was not capable of playing the part to a finish, he conceived the idea of making those about Valgrand believe that he had been suddenly afflicted with loss of memory, and from that moment could not remember anything whatever: Fantômas, the false Valgrand, could thus pass for the true Valgrand and be taken as such by the true Valgrand’s intimates!... I humbly confess, Fandor, that I copied Fantômas by creating Cranajour.”