"There was a very nice little case against him," finished Japix, with a gigantic laugh. "Oh, I know your profession Monsieur Lecoq; I have read Gaboriau's romances."
"I'm afraid we're not so infallible as the great Lecoq."
"Pooh! why not? I dare say he's modelled on Vidocq. At all events, you've now got an enigma which would delight Monsieur Gaboriau."
"Real life is more difficult than fiction."
"There you are wrong. Fiction is a reflection of real life—a holding of the mirror up to Nature. Eh—author?"
"Shakespeare," said Octavius, promptly, "and quoted wrongly."
"Never mind; the spirit if not the form is there."
"We've strayed from the subject," observed Axton, smiling, "regarding this case. Since Spolger and myself are innocent, who is guilty?"
"Ask something easier."
"Do you know, my good Vidocq," remarked Japix, contemplating his large feet, "that I wonder you have not turned your attention to Monsieur Judas."