Part 66 (1/2)
”I can a.s.sure, dear Monsieur Nanteuil, that Fantomas has not left the room by this window!...”
”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 gla.s.s ... look, there is even a little bit stuck into the wood!”
”But that proves nothing!... Fantomas 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 Fantomas did not escape by the window, how then did he get away?” he asked.
Fandor said in clear, distinct tones:
”Fantomas 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.
”He is not hidden in the room....”
”You think then that he has hidden himself somewhere in the house?”
Speaking in the same hard, decisive tone, Fandor a.s.serted:
”He is not hidden in the house! In the very height of the struggle, I kept a strict watch on the direction taken by the man who was doing his utmost to strangle me. I am positive I had my back against the door when I fired, so that exit was barred! Neither by door nor window did Fantomas escape!” Fandor's tone was one of absolute a.s.surance.
”If you are certain of that,” said Nanteuil, ”can you tell us how Fantomas did escape?”
Fandor's reply was to rise from his arm-chair. He took the candlestick from the table where Juve had placed it and walked towards a large mirror. He carefully examined his neck.
”Very curious!” said he, in a low voice...: ”Now, monsieur, the man who tried to strangle me was Fantomas--we have seen him.... Well, this man had a wound on his thumb, or, more probably, he wounded me, anyhow he has left on my collar the mark of his thumb in blood--you guess what this thumb-mark is?”
Simultaneously, Barbey, Nanteuil, and Juve rushed towards the young journalist.... Fandor showed them a little red mark, clear cut on the white surface of the collar; it was a finger-print so characteristic, that the two bankers cried in a trembling voice:
”Again the imprint of Jacques Dollon!”
Silence fell--a pregnant silence. The four men gazed at one another.
Fandor soon started whistling a popular air. Juve smiled: Monsieur Barbey was the first to speak:
”Good Heavens! Do you mean to say that Jacques Dollon was here--in this room!... It is certain, you say, Monsieur Fandor, that he did not get away either by door or window--for pity's sake explain the mystery!”
But Fandor contented himself with a smile and a question.
”Do you really think, then, that I know it?...”
Nanteuil stamped with impatience.