“I know,” again affirmed the detective.
“Already?”
“Already?... the papers I bought at Rouen!”
“Then you also know that the day before yesterday, Mr. Bob, Fantômas murdered three police-officers, so arranging it as to make it believed I was the criminal?”
“No, I did not know that.”
“In that case I will
tell you about it”—and Fandor proceeded to relate clearly and succinctly his extraordinary adventure, concluding his narrative with the words:
“Which comes to this, Mr. Tom Bob, that at this present moment not only does the fear of Fantômas paralyse all Paris, but further, public opinion accuses me of being Fantômas’ accomplice, or even Fantômas himself!”
All the time the young man was speaking, Tom Bob kept nodding his approval at intervals. Now he broke in on the other’s remarks.
“If you please,” he said, “better lie down, don’t you think, on the floor instead of just crouching, as you are now?” And as Fandor gazed at him in a sort of panic, the detective added in an explanatory tone: