url up in rings towards the ceiling. The two cases were very
dissimilar, and yet his detective instinct persuaded him that although
they differed in details their conception and execution emanated not
only from one single brain but also from one hand. He was convinced that
he was dealing with a mysterious and dangerous individual, and that
while he himself was out in the open he was fighting a concealed and
invisible adversary; he strove to give form and substance to the
adversary, and the name of Fantomas came into his mind. Fantomas! What
might Fantomas be doing now, and, if he had a real existence, as the
detective most firmly believed, how was he spending New Year's Day?

A sharp ring at the bell startled him from his chair, and not giving his
man-servant time to answer it, he went himself to the door and took from
a messenger a telegram which he hastily tore open and read:

"Have found in the Dordogne drowned body of young man, face
unrecognisable, from description possibly Charles Rambert. Please
consider situation and wire course you will take."

The telegram had been handed in at Brives and was signed by M. de
Presles.

"Something fresh at last," the detective muttered. "Drowned in the
Dordogne, and face unrecognisable! I wonder if it really is Charles
Rambert?"

Since M. Etienne Rambert and his son had disappeared so unaccountably,
the detective naturally had formulated mentally several hypotheses, but
he had arrived at no conclusion which really satisfied his judgment. But
though their flight had not surprised him greatly, he had been rather
surprised that the police had not been able to find any trace of them,
for rightly or wrongly Juve credited them with a good deal of cleverness
and power. So it was by no means unreasonable to accept the death of the
fugitives as explanation of the failure of the police to find them.
However, this was a fresh development of the case, and he was about to
draft a reply to M. de Presles when once more the bell rang sharply.

This time Juve did not move, but listened while his man spoke to the
visitor. It was an absolute rule of Juve's never to receive visitors at
his flat. If anyone wanted to see him on business, he was to be found
almost every day in his office at head-quarters about eleven in the
morning; to a few people he was willing to give appointments at a quiet
and discreet little cafe in the boulevard Saint-Michel; but he invited
no one to his own rooms except