em,
neither I nor the police will get at the truth of it all."

Fandor made a definite distinction between the opinion of the police and
his own, because two different theories now obtained with regard to the
two affairs: that of the attack on the Princess Sonia Danidoff, and that
of the robbery of rue du Quatre Septembre, where the imprints of Jacques
Dollon's fingers had been found.

The police and Fandor coupled Monsieur Havard with Monsieur Bertillon
under this definition; the police held it for certain that Jacques
Dollon was alive, very much alive, and the probabilities were great that
he was guilty of the different crimes attributed to him.

In an interview granted to a press rival of _La Capitale_ Monsieur
Bertillon had stated:

"We base our assertion that Dollon is alive, and consequently guilty, on
material facts: we have found his signature attached to each of the
crimes, and it is a signature which cannot be imitated by anyone...."

For his part, Fandor held it as certain that Jacques was dead.

"I maintain that, since fifty persons have seen Jacques Dollon dead, it
is infinitely more likely that he is dead than that he is alive! The
imprints of his fingers, his hand, are equally visible, it is true, and
seem to prove that he is alive. But the conclusive nature of this test
is nullified by the fact that, before the discovery of these imprints,
before these imprints had been made, Jacques Dollon was dead!"

And in his articles in _La Capitale_, Jerome Fandor, with a persistency
which finished by disconcerting even the most convinced partisans of the
police contention, continued to maintain that Jacques Dollon was dead,
dead as dead, and, to use his own expression, "as dead as it was
possible for anyone to be dead!"

Jerome Fandor had just rung the bell at the garden gate of Madame
Bourrat's private boarding-house in Auteuil.

Jules hastened to answer this ring, and was met by the question:

"Is Mademoiselle Elizabeth Dollon at home?"

"No, monsieur. She went out not an hour ago!"

"And you are certain she has not returned?"

"Absolutely, monsieur.... There are two visitors waiting for her
already."

"She will be in soon, then?"

"Certainly, monsieur: she will not be long...."

Fandor looked at his watch.

"A quarter past ten!... Very well, I will wait for her."

"If monsieur will kindly follow me?"

Fandor was shown into the drawing-room. He had advanced only a step or
two when he was