"And the V. affair?"
"The V. affair?... Peuh!"
"What the deuce does he refer to?" Juve was asking himself.
Unsuspecting, de Loubersac came to his aid.
"Our corporal must have returned to Verdun to-day?"
"Ah!" thought Juve, "our corporal is Vinson!" The further he proceeded in his present investigations the clearer grew the connection between the Brocq affair and those of Bobinette, Wilhelmine, de Loubersac: surely they were all interpreters of the tragic drama conceived by Vagualame-Fantômas!
"His leave expired this morning," continued de Loubersac.
"He left yesterday evening. I have proof of it," asserted Juve-Vagualame.
"Anything new?"