The result of his call was demonstrated when we went down to breakfast the next morning. A jaunty little man in a top-hat and frock-coat, with spats and a gold-headed cane, flew up to Nikka and embraced him in the center of the lobby. And Nikka introduced him to us as M. Doumergue, Commissaire of the Police de Suretie, or Secret Police.
Would he do us the honor of taking breakfast with us? Mais, certainement! It was a pleasure of the greatest to have the company of M. Zaranko and his cher colleagues. His regrets were unspeakable that he might not have an extended opportunity to make our acquaintance, as he understood from M. Zaranko that we must depart that same day. He had taken the necessary steps already to dispense with the usual formalities for arriving and departing travelers, and he had also examined the dossiers of the individuals M. Zaranko had named.
This last was what especially interested us; and we listened closely to the facts he recited from a notebook.
"Of Toutou LaFitte, Messieurs, but little can be said. If you have seen him, then you have seen one whom no police official can claim knowingly to have laid eyes on. But we feel him, Messieurs. We hear of him. We sense his manifold activities. If the stories which others, like yourselves, tell us are true, he is a genius, a monster. He rules the criminal world. He has the brain of a statesman, the instincts of an animal.
"Hilmi Bey we know well. During the war he found it convenient to dwell in Switzerland. He has been mixed up in various shady coups, both in Egypt and in Turkey. He has sources of income we have never been able to discover. Prior to this nobody has associated him with Toutou.
"And this Russian pair! Vassilievich and Vassilievna! They are notorious as international spies. Before the war they worked in the German interest. During the War, who can say? Had we caught them they would have been shot out of hand. But the War is over, I regret to say, Messieurs. They hold their titles of right, and undoubtedly come of an honorable family or families. For as to their being brother and sister—tien! Why worry about the unessential?
"The Hilyers have been watched since before the War on suspicion of being implicated in dishonorable gambling transactions. But in France, Messieurs, a wide latitude is allowed in these matters, and so far, we have not been able to catch them—how is it the excellent Americans say? Ah, yes, wiz zee goods.
"Is this of assistance? I regret deeply I cannot add more. But if I can aid you in any way, if you are annoyed in Paris or subjected to observation, pray call upon me."
He bowed himself out.
"That's all very well," remarked Hugh, as we wandered over to the newsstand in the lobby, "and his information is valuable, Nikka, but we can't call on him officially! If we complain of being shadowed at the Prefecture of Police, they will ask us the object of it; and if we tell them the truth, you can be sure the secret will leak out. Why, the policeman who didn't use such information would be a fool! No, lads, the only thing for us to do is to dodge our trailers."