A glance at the open skylight in the low roof was enough. In a moment they were out on the roof of the adjoining house.
A few yards away was a rope ladder hooked over the parapet and dangling to the exterior fire-escape leading from the roof of a big drapery store only ten feet below. The miscreant himself had vanished.
The would-be murderer, it was clear, must have climbed the fire-escape during the darkness of the previous night, and lain hidden on the roofs till the procession came along. After the garret had been searched, he had slipped down with impunity while every one was excitedly watching the procession.
They never caught him. But when Gregoire returned to the Prefecture a poisoned dart was found sticking in the upholstery of his car, close to his head. Had it been a bare half-inch lower down it would, no doubt, have struck him with fatal result. Dick’s lightning shot had spoilt the miscreant’s aim and saved the Préfet’s life.
The incident is one of the secrets of the life of official Paris and led to the Préfet’s resignation a month later, an occurrence which filled all France with dismay and was the cause of much conjecture and speculation.
Raoul Gregoire has returned to the provinces and is now Préfet of the Department of the Alpes-Maritimes an appointment which he much prefers.