s own father![8]

[Footnote 8: See _Fantomas_: vol. i, Fantomas Series.]

He remembered that, commencing the very day after the discovery of the
crime, his existence had been that of a pariah flying from the police,
from those who knew him; remembered how he had assumed disguise after
disguise, denied by his father, ignored by his mother, an unfortunate
woman who had lost her reason and was shut up in a lunatic asylum.

The only gleam of happiness which had come to illumine the dreary
darkness of his youth resolved itself into a memory picture of a pale
dawn when the lad, Charles Rambert, leaving a wine-shop, had been
caught by Juve, who, believing in his innocence, had taken him under
his protection, had given him the name of Jerome Fandor, and helped
him to start a new life.[9]

[Footnote 9: See _The Exploits of Juve_> vol. ii, Fantomas Series.]

From then onwards that timid lad, disheartened by his misfortunes, had
regained courage and hope, and had boldly plunged into the struggle to
live.

His heart and soul were in his journalistic work. Of an enquiring turn
of mind, Fandor had not been content with the episodic work of a mere
reporter: he eagerly pursued the guilty, took a lively interest in the
victims, and became Juve's valuable collaborator, with whom the bonds
of friendship strengthened day by day.

Thus Fandor, in Juve's company, was drawn into the hurly-burly, into
the troubles and torments of criminal affairs so mysterious, so
phenomenal, that, for several years in succession, they created a
sensation, not only in Paris but throughout France.

He constituted himself one of the most implacable enemies of Fantomas.
The more so, because he was satisfied that the "Genius of Crime," as
this monster had been called, had had a considerable share in the
vicissitudes and troubles of his own life. Fandor felt that this
monster's sinister influence was still being exercised against him.

Too often, in those wakeful hours when he reviewed his life, following
the course of it in a kind of mental cinematograph, did Fandor think
of Elizabeth Dollon. It was with sad yet sweet emotion, with a
piercing regret, but with an unfailing hope, that he saw before his
inner vision the charming, the adored face, and figure of Elizabeth
Dollon, for whom he had felt, and felt still, an affection profound
and sincere. He loved her: he would always love her.[10]

[Footnote 10: See _Messengers of Evil_: vol. iii, Fantomas Seri