ils as clearly in mind as
if they had happened only yesterday.... The Gurn affair was one of the
first I had a hand in, with Juve ... it was in connection with that very
affair I made my start here on _La Capitale_."[2]

[Footnote 2: See _Fantomas_.]

Fandor grew pale:

"And you were jolly proud of it, eh, Fandor?... Good Heavens, how you
did hold forth about this Juve! And you regularly fed us up with this
villain, so mysterious, so extraordinary, who was never run to earth,
could not be captured, was capable of the most inhuman cruelties,
capable of devising the most unimaginable tricks and stratagems--this
Fantomas!"

Fandor grew pale:

"My dear fellow," said he, "never speak sneeringly or jokingly of
Fantomas!... No doubt it is taken for granted, by the public at any
rate, that Fantomas is an invention of Juve and myself: that Fantomas
never existed!... And that because this monster, who is a man of genius,
has never been identified; because not a soul has been able to lay hands
on him ...; and because, as you know, this fruitless pursuit has cost
poor Juve his life...."

"The truth is, this famous detective died a foul death!"

"No! You are mistaken! Juve died on the field of honour! When, after a
terribly difficult and dangerous investigation, he succeeded (by this
time it was no longer the Gurn-Fantomas affair, but that of the
boulevard Inkermann at Neuilly) in cornering Fantomas, he was well aware
that he risked his life in entering the bandit's abode. What happened
was that the villain found means to blow up the house, and to bury Juve
underneath the ruins.[3] Fantomas has proved the stronger; but,
according to my ideas, Juve has had, none the less, the finest death he
could desire--death in the midst of the fight--a useful death!"

[Footnote 3: See _The Exploits of Juve_.]

"Useful? In what way?..."

"My dear fellow," cried Fandor, in a tone of vigorous denial, "in the
opinion of all unprejudiced minds, the death of Juve has proved, proved
up to the hilt, the existence of Fantomas.... More, it has forced this
villain to disappear; it has restored peace, tranquillity to
society.... At the cost of his life, Juve has scored a final triumph,
he has deprived Fantomas of the power to do harm--pared his claws in
fact."

"The truth is he is never mentioned now by a soul ... for all that,
Fandor, only to see you smile! Why--," and the editorial secretary shook
a threatening finger at his colleague: "I'll