"When you came back the other day and told me that unlikely yarn about Lady Beltham being alive, I decided to try new methods. First of all, I became a cavalry officer, then I got this wheel chair and moved into this apartment."
As Juve paused, Fandor, more and more amazed, inquired:
"But your reason for all this!"
"Just wait! The day after the Dixon business, I put three of my best men on the track of the American. I had a notion he would want to see Josephine again, and I was not mistaken. She came back to justify herself in his eyes. The story ended as might have been foreseen.
Michel, who brought me the news, said that Josephine had agreed to become Dixon"s mistress."
"The deuce!"
"Oh, there is nothing to be surprised at that. Michel made arrangements to learn all the details. Josephine is to live at 33 C in Boulevard Pereire South; that is, to the right of the railway line, fourth floor.
Here we are at 24 B Boulevard Pereire North, to left of the railway, fifth floor, and just opposite."
"And what does this old M. Mahon do, Juve?"
Juve smiled.
"You are going to see, my lad."
He settled himself again in the wheel chair, drew a heavy rug over his knees and became once more the old invalid.
"My dear friend, will you open the door for me?"
Fandor laughingly complied, and Juve wheeled himself into another room.
"You see I have plenty of air here thanks to this balcony upon which I can wheel my chair. Would you be good enough to pa.s.s me that spy-gla.s.s?"
Juve pointed the gla.s.s toward the far end of Boulevard Pereire, in the direction of Poste Maillot.
"Mlle. Josephine has lately had a craze for keeping her nails polished."
"But you are not looking toward the house opposite, you are looking in a contrary direction!"
Juve laid his spy-gla.s.s on his knees and laughed.
"I expected you to make that remark. See, those gla.s.ses at the end are only for show, inside is a whole system of prisms. With this perspective you see not in front of you, but on one side. In other words, when I point it at the far end of the boulevard, what I am really looking at is the house opposite."
Fandor was about to congratulate his friend on this new specimen of his ingenuity, but Juve did not give him time. He startled the journalist by suddenly asking him:
"Tell me, do you love the army?"
"Why?"
"Because I think those two soldiers you see over there are coming."
"To see you," added Fandor.
"How do you know?"
"From your porteress."
"You pumped her?"
"I did. I got her to talk a bit about that excellent M. Mahon."
Juve laughed:
"Confound you!"
With a quick movement Fandor, at the detective"s request, drew back the wheel chair and shut the window.
"You understand," explained Juve, "there is nothing to surprise my neighbours in my having two soldiers to visit me. But I don"t care for third persons to hear what they say to me." There was a ring at the apartment door. "Go and open, Fandor. I don"t leave my cripple"s chair for them; people can see through the curtains."
Shown in by Fandor, the soldiers shook hands with Juve and took seats opposite him.
"Do you recognise Michel and Leon?"
"Oh, perfectly!" cried Fandor, "but why this disguise?"
"Because no heed is paid to uniforms, there are soldiers everywhere, and also it is not easy to recognise a civilian suddenly appearing in uniform. What is fresh, Michel?"
"Something pretty serious, sir. According to your instructions we have been shadowing the Superior of the Nogent Convent."
"Well, what have you discovered?"
"Every Tuesday evening the Superior leaves Nogent and goes to Paris."
"Where?"
"To one of the branches of her religious house in the Boulevard Jourdan."
"No. 180?"
Michel was dumbfounded.
"Yes, sir, you knew?"
"No," said Juve, coldly. "What does she do at this branch?"
"There are four or five old nuns there. The Superior spends Tuesday night there and on Wednesday goes back to Nogent about one in the afternoon."
"And you know no more than that?"
"No, sir. Must we go on with the shadowing?"
"No, it is not worth while. Return to the Prefecture and report to M.
Havard."
When the two men had left, Fandor turned to Juve.