lear 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 asserted:

"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 assurance.

"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.

"But hang it al