“There are many more things, Fandor, you never suspected, things you ought to know... And what is more, you seem to me to be neglecting your work badly at this very moment, Mr. Reporter! It is already one o’clock in the afternoon; and if they are counting on you to supply them with information about this affair of the place de l'Opéra...” Fandor leapt to his feet.

“It’s true! “ he cried. “I had quite forgotten it! .. But it is of no importance compared to...”

Juve interrupted.

“The affair is serious, Fandor, mark my words!. .. Do you remember? It is the formula I employed on two or three occasions, when warning you, after the assassination of Jacques Dollon, after the attack on Sonia Danidoff at Thomery’s house.”

“What! It was you, Juve!” cried Fandor.

“Yes, it was... but let us move on! Time presses. I am going to disappear again; but you now know where to find me, in future, and under what form, should occasion require it. Cranajour I am; Cranajour I remain – for the time being at any rate. As to you, Fandor, be off with you at once... and go and cook up that article of yours.”

The young journalist rose mechanically; but Juve, thinking better of it, caught him by the arm, drew him back and pointed out the writing-table.

“Come to think of it, you know nothing about the affair, and I do: there are things which should be said, above all things to be hinted at... do you wish me to give you information?... Sit yourself there, my lad: I am going to dictate your article to you!”

The journalist, understanding the gravity of the situation, and well knowing that if Juve took this course, he had important reasons for so doing, did not say one word.

He simply brought out his fountain pen, unscrewed it ready for action, and, with his hand resting on a stack of white paper, he waited. Juve dictated.

“First of all put this as your title: An Audacious Theft. That does not tell the reader anything, but it awakens his curiosity... Let us continue!

“Write!”

CHAPTER ELEVEN : AN AUDACIOUS THEFT

Two hours after Juve had dictated his article to Fandor, our journalist was reading it, in proof, in the offices of La Capitale. His article ran thus:

“By a fortunate coincidence we found ourselves, this very morning, in the directorial office of the Barbey-Nanteuil bank, chatting with Monsieur Barbey himself, when Monsieur Nanteuil arrived, breathless, and announced to his partner that a sensational robbery had just been committed in the rue du Quatre Septembre, a robbery involving a sum of twenty millions, representing a clearance recently effected by the Federated Republic.