Fandor"s next remark had malice in it.
"I pity you, Monsieur l"Abbe! No doubt you have long prayers to recite--especially if you have not finished your breviary!"
"You are mistaken," answered the abbe, with a slight smile: "I am dispensed from a certain number of religious exercises!"
"A fig for you, my fine fellow!" said Fandor to himself. "The deuce is in if I do not catch you out over one of your lies!"
The little abbe was seated on a chair attending to his nails.
Fandor walked to the door, explaining:
"I have a horror of sleeping in an hotel bedroom with an unlocked door!... You will allow me to turn the key?"
"Turn it, then!"
Locking the door, Fandor drew the key and threw it on to the priest"s lap.
"There, Monsieur l"Abbe, if you like to put it on your bedside table!"
Fandor"s action had a purpose. Ten to one you settle the s.e.x of a doubtful individual by such a test. A man instinctively draws his knees together when an object is thrown on them: a woman draws them apart, to make a wider surface of the skirt for the reception of an article and thus prevent its fall to the ground.
Fandor was not surprised to see the little priest instinctively act as would a woman.... But, would not a priest, accustomed to wear a ca.s.sock, act as a woman would? Fandor realised that, in this instance, the riddle of s.e.x was still unsolved.
Fandor-Vinson began to undress: the priest continued to polish his nails.
"You are not going to bed, Monsieur l"Abbe?"
"Yes, I am."
The ecclesiastic took off his shoes; then his collar. Then he lay down on the bed.
"You will sleep with all your clothes on?" asked Fandor-Vinson.
"Yes, when I have to sleep in a bed I am not accustomed to!... Should I blow out the candle, Corporal?"
"Blow it out, Monsieur l"Abbe."
Fandor felt sure the little priest was a woman disguised. He dare not take off his ca.s.sock because he was she!
Wishing his strange companion a good night"s rest, Fandor snuggled under the bedclothes. Determined to keep awake and alert, he tried to pa.s.s the dark hours by mentally reciting _Le Cid_!
XXI
A CORDIAL UNDERSTANDING
"Let us make peace!"
Juve held out his hand--a firm, strong hand--the hand of a trusty man.
"Let us make peace frankly, sincerely, wholeheartedly!"
Lieutenant de Loubersac signed the pact, without a moment"s hesitation: he put his hand into the hand of Juve, and shook it warmly.
"Agreed, Monsieur: we are of one mind on that point!"
The two men stood silent, considering each other, despite the violence of the west wind sweeping across the end of the stockade, bringing with it enormous foam-tipped waves, rising from a rough, grey sea.
The detective and the officer were on the jetty of Dieppe harbour.
This chill December afternoon, the sea looked dark and threatening.
Since their arrival at Dieppe, Juve and de Loubersac had mutually avoided each other. Time and again they had come face to face, each more bored, more cross-looking than the other. This mutual, sulky avoidance was over: they had made it up.
The evening before, following his arrest under the guise of Vagualame, Juve had been conducted to the Depot by his colleagues. No sooner were they seated in the taxi, under the charge of Inspector Michel and his companion, than Juve made himself known to his gratified, unsuspecting colleagues. It was a humiliating surprise for the two policemen: they felt fooled.
Juve, realising that neither Michel nor his colleagues were at present likely to lend him their generous aid in the carrying out of certain plans, decided to keep silence: nor would he let them into the secret of his discoveries regarding Bobinette"s highly suspicious character and conduct: that she was an accomplice, a tool of the real Vagualame was established beyond a doubt.
The crestfallen Michel had to unhandcuff Juve and restore him to liberty; but he extracted a promise from his amazing colleague that he would see Monsieur Havard next morning, and give him an account of all that had pa.s.sed.
Accordingly, at seven o"clock next morning, Juve was received by Monsieur Havard.
Juve had hoped for a few minutes" interview, then a rush to the East Station, there to await the arrival of Corporal Vinson. The interview was a long one: Juve was too late.
But he had not lost time at Headquarters. The Second Bureau had telephoned, warning Police Headquarters that Corporal Vinson, arrived in Paris, was going to Dieppe very shortly, where a foreign pleasure-boat would take possession of a piece of artillery, stolen, and probably being taken care of by the corporal.
This information coincided with what Juve had learned from Bobinette, and completed it. He must start for Dieppe instanter. If he had any luck he would arrest the soldier, and Bobinette as well. She would convey the piece to Vinson in the morning, and would accompany him to Dieppe. She was daring enough to do it.
At the Saint Lazare station Juve had caught the train for Dieppe which meets the one o"clock boat, bound for England. He had just settled himself in a first-cla.s.s compartment, of which he was the solitary occupant, when he recognised an officer of the Second Bureau walking in the corridor--Lieutenant Henri de Loubersac!
The train was barely in motion when de Loubersac seated himself opposite Juve. The recognition had been mutual.
A few hours before, Henri de Loubersac had learned of the extraordinary arrest of the false Vagualame. He then understood that it was with Juve he had talked on the quay near the rue de Solferino.
The officer of the Second Bureau was profoundly mortified: he had been taken in by a civilian!
He declared:
"It is the sort of thing one does not do! It is unworthy of an honourable man!"
In the Batignolles tunnel Juve and he began discussing this point: de Loubersac angry, excited; Juve immovably calm.
The discussion lasted until their train ran into Dieppe station. They had exhausted the subject, but had scarcely touched on the motives of their journey to this seaport. The two men separated with a stiff salute.
Obviously both were keeping a watch on the approaches to the quay: they encountered each other repeatedly; it became ridiculous. Being intelligent men devoted to their duty, they determined to act in concert for the better fulfillment of this same duty--duty to their respective chiefs--duty to the State--duty to France!