"Because?..."
"Because this window has been broken by means of this chair: this chair, which he flung against the panes to put us on the wrong scent, and make us believe he had escaped that way!... Just look at this chair! It is still strewn with broken bits of glass ... look, there is even a little bit stuck into the wood!"
"But that proves nothing!... Fantômas has broken the window panes as best he could, and then made his escape!"
"In that case," insisted Fandor, "dear Monsieur Nanteuil, can you explain how it was he troubled to remove his cloak, hood and all; and, after that, how is it he has left no footprints in the flower-beds beneath the window? When day dawns you will see for yourself that my statement is correct, though I have not verified it! The flower-beds are too wide, too big, for a man jumping from here, to jump clear of them! And the earth is soft enough to take and retain the footprints of a man who leaps down on to them from this height!... Nevertheless, such footprints are conspicuous by their absence!"
Monsieur Barbey seemed overwhelmed—aghast.
"If Fantômas did not escape by the window, how then did he get away?" he asked.
Fandor said in clear, distinct tones:
"Fantômas was not able to escape!..."
"But he cannot be in the room?... Where, then, can he have hidden himself?"
In a hard voice, Fandor made answer.