all idea of working for her doctor's diploma. Instead, she
had become a hospital nurse.[12]

[Footnote 12: See _Fantomas_: vol. i, Fantomas Series.]

Here the colonel interrupted:

"What can these details matter to us, Mademoiselle? What we want to know is
not your own history, but that of the guilty person--information pertinent
to the case in hand."

In a strangely solemn voice, Bobinette replied:

"You would know the history of the guilty person?... Listen!"

The tribunal was impressed: the members, silent, attentive, let the
witness have her way.

Bobinette touched on the various stages of her life up to the day when
she came in contact with the Baron de Naarboveck. The care she had
lavished on the youthful Wilhelmine gained the gratitude of the rich
diplomat and his daughter. From that time they treated her as one of
themselves: she became Mademoiselle de Naarboveck's companion.

"Ah, cursed be that day!" cried Bobinette.... "Misfortunes, tragedies,
date from then. The worst is--I must confess it--I was the cause of
them!"

"What do you mean by that?" interrupted Commandant Dumoulin.

"I mean to say that if Captain Brocq died by an assassin's hand, the
blame is mine!... I mean to say that if a confidential document
disappeared from his rooms, it is because I took it!... I was his
mistress!... I am responsible for his death!"

There was a gasping silence: the sensation was intense. Juve, half
hidden behind the cast-iron stove, alone remained unmoved.

Bobinette continued:

"My evil genius, gentlemen, was a bandit of the worst kind: you know
him under the name of Vagualame. Vagualame, agent of the Second
Bureau, and officially a counter-spy. Quite so. But, gentlemen,
Vagualame was equally spying on France, a traitor in the pay of a
foreign power: worse still, he it was who assassinated Captain Brocq:
you know he was the murderer of the singer, Nichoune!...

"This Vagualame made of me his thing, his slave! Alas! I cannot
pretend that it was under the perpetual menace from this monster I
became a traitor! I have so many betrayals that must count against me:
betrayal of my country, betrayal of Captain Brocq's love for me! I
robbed him in every kind of way: I stole the document referring to the
mobilisation scheme: I stole his money--bank-notes--with the excuse
that it was to put the police on the wrong scent and make them believe
it was an ordinary burglary.

"These notes, gentlemen, were found in th