The detective shrugged his shoulders.

"No, I do not think you are right.... In the first place, Fantomas is
capable of everything--capable of the theft of a document for which a
foreign power would pay him very highly, just as there is no other
kind of theft he is not capable of.... And then, dear boy, a spy, a
traitor in the pay of a foreign power would not dare to attempt the
crime to which we are giving all our attention--not in that particular
way at any rate. There is only one person who would risk
that--Fantomas."

Fandor's laugh had a note of mockery in it. He let Juve see that he
thought his ideas on this subject were very simple indeed.

"It is your hobby which always inspires you," he repeated.... "Beyond
question I am the first to believe in the audacity of Fantomas ... and
if I do not know all the secrets of terror hidden in this word
'spying,' I am ready enough to be convinced.... But, look here, Juve,
I know the world of spies, I have studied them, I know what they are
capable of attempting, ... and I do not speak lightly when I tell you
that the assassination of Brocq is a political crime."

Juve continued to shake his head, quite unconvinced.

Fandor continued:

"Juve, believe me! Who says 'spy,' says 'capable of anything.' The
officers of the Second Bureau are, in short, the true directors of the
police spy system; they know all the shameful mysteries whereby some
individual reputed honest, honourable in appearance, is in the pay of
the foreigner. They know the traitors. They know who sells France and
who buys France. Every day they are in relation with the agents
belonging to all classes of society, lawyers, commercial men, small
shopkeepers, commercial travellers, railway servants, women of the
world, women of the pavement, thousands of individuals who continually
travel about the country, holding it in a network of observations,
notes, remarks, the result of all of which might be that some one
power would have immediately the advantage over some other, because it
knew the weak points where it could launch its attack.... You know,
Juve, that they are people who do not shrink from anything when their
interest is at stake. You know that the man who betrays, who spies,
who is an informer, is always disavowed by the country who employs
him.... You know that those who are taken in the act are punished to
the utmost, consequently they will stick at nothing to save themselves
from being caught. Do yo