"Ah!" interrupted the captain, "do you know what address she gave?"
"Why, yes I do. I was almost touching her when she spoke to the driver."...
"Well?"
"Faith, what she said was "Take me to the Bois," and the cab turned by the Saints-Peres bridge. Probably it went by the Tuileries quay after."
"The number? The number of this taxi?"
"Why, we will ask the policeman at the kiosque: he has certainly entered it, as usual."
Stamping with impatience inside a landaulet whose hood he had had lowered that he might more easily see around him, Brocq had rushed off in pursuit of Bobinette"s taxi, 249--B.Z.
Shaking from head to foot, Brocq held in a tight grip his leather portfolio, which contained all the doc.u.ments he wished to lay before the Ministry of War, less, alas! the mislaid plan of the eastern forts. He scrutinised the Place de la Concorde, the Avenue des Champs-Elysees. He was asking himself why Bobinette, after telling him she must hurry away, had driven to the Bois as if she were one of the leisured crowd?
This troubled the lover in him as well as the soldier. Why had he rushed after his mistress in this fashion? What definite reason had he? After all, it was exceedingly improbable, surely, that she had carried away this doc.u.ment without noticing it, for it was composed of three or four large sheets of paper!... In that case, she must have lost it before getting into the taxi. As to supposing for an instant that she had taken it away intentionally--Brocq would not suppose it. Why should he? There was nothing to lead him to think.
But, all the same!...
All the same, the captain had a presentiment, a conviction, an instinctive certainty that, at all costs he must overtake Bobinette--he absolutely must.
Why?
Brocq could not have said why. He did not reason about it. He felt: a feeling as indefinable as it was irresistible drove him to pursue, to continue the chase at top speed.
Again and again he had shouted to the astonished chauffeur, who was driving his taxi as fast as the crowded street permitted: "Get on! In the devil"s name, go faster--faster!"
Night was falling. The close of this November day was particularly beautiful. Behind the Arc de Triomphe a broad band of red on the horizon reflected the setting sun in its winter glory. The breeze was wafting the last red-brown leaves from the trees, turning them over and over before they fell on the autumnal greensward and the black earth of the empty flower-beds.
Rows of carriages were moving towards the etoile. As they had cleared the Rond-Point of the Champs-Elysees Brocq uttered a cry of joy. Some fifty yards away his keen eye had caught sight of Bobinette"s taxi: he had identified the number.
"There it is!"
He urged the chauffeur to follow it up closely, regardless of consequences.
"A moment more and we shall have caught up the 249," said Brocq to himself. His landaulet was gaining ground.
The crowd of vehicles, the police holding them up where the roads intersected, impeded the advance. Brocq, wild with impatience, could not keep still. At last they reached the Place de l"etoile. The carriages, conforming to rule, rounded the monument on the right, going more and more slowly owing to the increased crush. But the captain felt relieved; only one cab, drawn by a horse, now separated him from Bobinette"s taxi, and a.s.suredly her vehicle and his would be abreast, side by side at the entry to the avenue of the Bois de Boulogne.
Brocq loved Bobinette dearly, but frankly, if for a joke or inadvertently she had carried off the doc.u.ment, he would give her a piece of his mind. He would let her know that it would not do to play tricks with things of that sort. Nevertheless, his heart was wrung with anxiety.
Supposing Bobinette had noticed nothing--if the doc.u.ment had fallen in the street?
Suddenly the poor fellow saw Bobinette"s taxi cut across the line of carriages to the right and turn into the Avenue de la Grand-Armee.
Brocq"s chauffeur did not seem to have noticed this: he continued in the direction of the Bois de Boulogne.
"Oh, you idiot!" shouted the captain. And, in order to give his instructions as rapidly as possible, he leaned almost entirely out of the vehicle.
But a second or two had pa.s.sed when the chauffeur stopped dead, that he might see what had happened to his fare. Something must have happened, for Brocq had abruptly stopped short in the midst of his directions. He had collapsed on the cushions of the taxi, and remained motionless.
Other vehicles surrounded the automobile. Some ladies pa.s.sing in a victoria noticed the captain.
"Look, my dear," exclaimed one of them, "do you see how pale that man is? He seems to be ill!"...
At the same moment, the pedestrians were struck by the officer"s strange att.i.tude. Brocq had suddenly subsided in a heap on the cushion, his head had fallen to one side, his mouth was open, his eyes were closed: he seemed to have fainted.
A crowd gathered at once.
The chauffeur got down, shook his fare by the arm, and the arm was inert.
The crowd increased.
"A doctor!" cried a voice. "It is plain that this man is ill!"
A man stepped out from the crowd. His hair was white, he wore a decoration ribbon, and he had descended from a private brougham. With an air of authority he made his way through the curious onlookers, and when a constable came forward he said: "Kindly make these people stand away. I am Professor Barrell of the School of Medicine."
There was a murmur of respectful sympathy among the onlookers, for the professor was famous.
This master of medicine with a sure hand had undone the collar, the cravat of the mysterious sufferer, half opened his overcoat, put his ear to the patient"s heart, then, straightening himself, considered the face attentively, not without a certain amount of stupefaction.
The constable made a suggestion: "Had we not better take this individual to a chemist"s?"
Professor Barrell replied in a low voice: "To a chemist"s? Do so if you wish ... but it is useless ... you would do better to go to the police-station: this unfortunate man is dead--it is a case of sudden death." The medical man added some technical words which this guardian of the peace did not understand.
II
DOc.u.mENT NUMBER SIX
"Hullo!... Am I speaking to Headquarters of Police?"
"Yes?"
"To the sergeant?... Good!... It is the superintendent of the Wagram Quarter who is telephoning.... They have just brought here the body of an officer who has died suddenly, Place de l"etoile, and I want you to send me one of your inspectors.... This officer was the bearer of important doc.u.ments.... I must send them direct to the military authorities.... Hullo!... Good.... You will send me someone immediately?... An inspector will be here in ten minutes?...
Splendid!... Very good!"
The superintendent hung up the telephone receiver and turned to the policeman, who stood motionless awaiting orders. He was visibly embarra.s.sed.
The police superintendent of the Wagram Quarter was a man of decisive action. He possessed in the highest degree the quality, the most precious of all for those of the police force, whose functions call them to intervene continually in the most surprising adventures--presence of mind.
A few minutes before this the taxi with its tragic burden had stopped at his police-station, and the men on duty had carried in the body of the unfortunate captain.
Called in all haste, the sergeant had immediately made a rapid investigation. He examined the doc.u.ments in the victim"s portfolio.