ave a right to know," she murmured: "When you sent me that
letter, after I took refuge in La Chapelle, telling me to go to the
house of a Madame Olga Dimitroff and present myself for the post of
companion, I went. She engaged me. I am still with her."

"To take refuge in an hotel was an idiotic thing to do, Bobinette....
The police could easily have nabbed you there if they had had a mind
to. That is why I sent you to one of my old friends--to a person to
whom I could recommend you!... Well, Bobinette, you will have to
leave that house!"

The young woman bent her head, mastered, ready to accept any orders of
Vagualame's before they were issued. All she asked, in a timid voice,
was: "Where am I to go then?"

"Far from here."

"Why?"

Vagualame's smile was evil. His reply was like a series of sword
thrusts.

"Because Juve has good eyes; because Fandor also begins to see
clear.... The net begins to tighten.... I shall find means to slip
through it!... I am not of those who are caught like a mouse in a
trap.... But, as for you--you with your simplicity--it is high time to
put you out of reach of the police!... I am going to give you some
money. Five days hence, disguised as a gipsy, you are to be on the
road from Sceaux to Versailles, at eleven o'clock at night, by the
first milestone on the left side after the aeroplane garage.... You
have followed me?"

Bobinette was trembling.

"Disguised as a gipsy, Vagualame? Why?"

"That is no concern of yours!... You have only to do as I tell you. I
give orders, but not explanations!"

Vagualame felt in his pockets. He held out a note-book.

"You will find two fifty-franc notes in this. It is more than you need
for a suitable disguise. I will give you more money when you start
off, because I am going to send you to a foreign country."

Whilst talking, Vagualame and Bobinette had gone a long way from _The
Crying Calf_. By a labyrinth of little streets, all darkness and
mystery, Vagualame had led his companion to a kind of blind alley: a
tall house blocked the end of it. A large shop on the ground floor
occupied half the front of it. Although the iron shutters had been
drawn down, light from the interior penetrated through apertures to
the street--thin rays of light.

Vagualame laid a brutal hand on Bobinette.

"Attend to what I say: it is no joking matter. You are coming in with
me. I am going to introduce you to my many friends here, whom I have
recently got to kn