"Is there any connection between the Dollon affair and my band of smugglers?"
"You will appreciate the importance of this question and the reply to it in a minute, my Fandor, when you learn that the Dépôt warder, Nibet, is one of the most valuable confederates of the coiners, of Mother Toulouche, of that hooligan, the Beard...."
"Is it possible!" cried Fandor. "Ah, Juve, all this is so strange that I believe you are really on Fantômas' track, once more!"
Juve shook his head; then he continued:
"I have still a great deal to tell you, but I must pause a moment to say, that I ought to apologise to you for a fairly brutal act I committed on your behalf—in your best interests, as you will see...."
And to Fandor, who opened his eyes in astonishment, the detective related, in humorous fashion, the history of the famous kick he had administered—a kick wherewith Juve had removed his friend from the immediate and certain danger of assassination, at the hand and by the knife of Nibet.
Fandor could not get over it! He grasped Juve's hands and pressed them warmly.
"My friend! My good friend!" murmured he, moved almost to tears. "If I had had the least suspicion!..."
Juve interrupted him.
"There are many more things, Fandor, you never suspected, things you ought to know.... And what is more, you seem to me to be neglecting your work badly at this very moment, Mr. Reporter! It is already one o'clock in the afternoon; and if they are counting on you to supply them with information about this affair of the place de l'Opéra...."