them over
and over before they fell on the autumnal greensward and the black
earth of the empty flower-beds.

Rows of carriages were moving towards the Etoile. As they had cleared
the Rond-Point of the Champs-Elysees Brocq uttered a cry of joy. Some
fifty yards away his keen eye had caught sight of Bobinette's taxi: he
had identified the number.

"There it is!"

He urged the chauffeur to follow it up closely, regardless of
consequences.

"A moment more and we shall have caught up the 249," said Brocq to
himself. His landaulet was gaining ground.

The crowd of vehicles, the police holding them up where the roads
intersected, impeded the advance. Brocq, wild with impatience, could
not keep still. At last they reached the Place de l'Etoile. The
carriages, conforming to rule, rounded the monument on the right,
going more and more slowly owing to the increased crush. But the
captain felt relieved; only one cab, drawn by a horse, now separated
him from Bobinette's taxi, and assuredly her vehicle and his would be
abreast, side by side at the entry to the avenue of the Bois de
Boulogne.

Brocq loved Bobinette dearly, but frankly, if for a joke or
inadvertently she had carried off the document, he would give her a
piece of his mind. He would let her know that it would not do to play
tricks with things of that sort. Nevertheless, his heart was wrung
with anxiety.

Supposing Bobinette had noticed nothing--if the document had fallen in
the street?

Suddenly the poor fellow saw Bobinette's taxi cut across the line of
carriages to the right and turn into the Avenue de la Grand-Armee.

Brocq's chauffeur did not seem to have noticed this: he continued in
the direction of the Bois de Boulogne.

"Oh, you idiot!" shouted the captain. And, in order to give his
instructions as rapidly as possible, he leaned almost entirely out of
the vehicle.

* * * * *

But a second or two had passed when the chauffeur stopped dead, that
he might see what had happened to his fare. Something must have
happened, for Brocq had abruptly stopped short in the midst of his
directions. He had collapsed on the cushions of the taxi, and remained
motionless.

Other vehicles surrounded the automobile. Some ladies passing in a
victoria noticed the captain.

"Look, my dear," exclaimed one of them, "do you see how pale that man
is? He seems to be ill!"...

At the same moment, the pedestrians were struck by the officer