Dead!"

Although she did not love her lover much, at this startling piece of
news Bobinette had jumped up, wringing her hands in horror. She grew
strangely pale.

"Yes, dead!" replied Vagualame coldly. "Kindly sit down please! See to
it that you play your part! You are a young woman speaking to an old
beggar, and you are not to forget it."

Bobinette sat down mechanically. She questioned him, and her voice was
trembling.

"Dead? What has happened, then?"

"What has happened is that you have played the fool! Brocq saw clearly
that you had stolen the document from him."

"He saw?"...

"Yes, he saw it! I had my suspicions, fortunately!... Then this cursed
captain threw himself into a taxi and followed you.... At the moment
when your own auto turned on the Place de l'Etoile, his was going to
meet it! Brocq was already hailing you, and you would have been caught
without a doubt had I not come to the rescue."

"Great Heavens! What have you done?"

"I have just told you. Clic-clac! A bullet in his heart, and he
remains on the spot."...

Bobinette was dumbfounded. She did not speak for a minute or two. Then
she asked anxiously:

"But where were you?"

"That does not concern you!"

"What must I say, then, if, by chance, I am questioned?"

"What must you say! The truth."...

"I am to confess that I knew him?"

Vagualame tapped his foot impatiently.

"How stupid you are! There is one thing you must understand. At the
present moment it is almost certain that this good fellow's identity
has been established. The devil's in it if some policeman is not at
his domicile already and if enquiry is not being made into the life of
Captain Brocq. To learn that he is on terms of acquaintanceship with
your patron, de Naarboveck, is child's play! To prove that he has
received a visit from you to-day, to prove that you were his
mistress--or, at the very least that you had come on an errand from
Naarboveck's daughter, Wilhelmine, why anybody can discover that!
To-morrow you will read the details in all the papers, for the
reporters are going to get hold of this affair: it is inevitable!
Consequently, do you not deny anything: it would only compromise you
to no good purpose. You will say."...

Vagualame stopped short. He raised the accordion which he carried
slung over his shoulder, saying in a whisper:

"People are coming. I leave you. I will see you again, if necessary.
Do not be anxious. I take all on my own shoulders