MAN OR WOMAN 180

XXI. A CORDIAL UNDERSTANDING 187

XXII. HAVE THEY BOLTED? 195

XXIII. LONDON AND PARIS 204

XXIV. AN APPETISER AT ROBERT'S BAR 212

XXV. THE ARREST 218

XXVI. WILHELMINES'S SECRET 225

XXVII. THE TWO VINSONS 232

XXVIII. AT "THE CRYING CALF" 240

XXIX. "I AM TROKOFF" 246

XXX. APPALLING ACCUSATIONS 260

XXXI. A CARAVAN DRAMA 271

XXXII. FREE AND PRISONER 281

XXXIII. RECONCILIATION 292

XXXIV. A FANTOMAS TRICK 298

XXXV. AT THE COUNCIL OF WAR 309

XXXVI. AMBASSADOR! 320

* * * * *

A NEST OF SPIES

I

SUDDEN DEATH

She sought in vain!

The young woman, who was finishing her toilette, lost patience. With a
look of annoyance she half turned round, crying, "Well, Captain, it is
easy to see that you are not accustomed to women's ways!"

This pretty girl's lover, a man about forty, with an energetic
countenance, and a broad forehead adorned with sparse locks, was
smoking a Turkish cigarette, taking his ease on a divan at the far end
of the room.

He jumped up as if moved by a spring.

For some time the captain had followed with his eyes the gestures of
his graceful mistress; like a good and attentive lover he guessed what
she required. He rushed into the adjoining dressing-room and returned
with a little onyx cup in which was a complete assortment of pins.

"There, my pretty Bobinette!" he cried, coming up to the young woman.
"This will put me into your good graces again."

She thanked him with a smile; took the needed pins from the cup, and
quietly finished dressing.

Bobinette was a red-haired beauty.

The thick braids of her abundant tresses, with their natural waves and
curls, fell to where the lines of neck and shoulders meet, their tawny
hues enhancing the milky whiteness of her plump flesh. This young
creature was of the true Rubens type.

It was half past three in the afternoon of a dull November day. A kind
of twilight was darkening the ground floor flat in the quiet rue de
Lille, where the two lovers were together.

For some months now Captain Brocq had been on