They leapt into taxi-cabs and cars. It was too late. The roads were already filled with such a block of traffic that the commissary's car was unable to move.

And thus, in the very midst of the crowd, by means of the most daring stratagem, taking advantage of a crush which he himself doubtless had his share in bringing about, the man Velmot had carried off his confederate and implacable enemy, Theodore Ma.s.signac.

CHAPTER XIII

THE VEIL IS LIFTED

I will not linger over the two films of this second performance and the evident connection between them. At the present moment we are too near the close of this extraordinary story to waste time over minute, tedious, unimportant details. We must remember that, on the following morning, a newspaper printed the first part, and, a few hours later, the second part of the famous Prevotelle report, in which the problem was attacked in so masterly a fashion and solved with so profoundly impressive a display of method and logic. I shall never forget it. I shall never forget that, during that night, while I sat in my bedroom reflecting upon the manner in which Ma.s.signac had been spirited away, during that night when the long-expected thunderstorm burst over the Paris district, Benjamin Prevotelle was writing the opening pages of his report. And I shall never forget that I was on the point of hearing of all this from Benjamin Prevotelle himself!

At ten o'clock, in fact, one of the neighbours living nearest to the lodge, from whose house my uncle or Berangere had been in the habit of telephoning, sent word to say that he was connected with Paris and that I was asked to come to the telephone without losing a minute.

I went round in a very bad temper. I was worn out with fatigue. It was raining cats and dogs; and the night was so dark that I knocked against the trees and houses as I walked.

The moment I arrived, I took up the receiver. Some one at the other end addressed me in a trembling voice:

"M. Beaugrand . . . M. Beaugrand . . . Excuse me . . . I have discovered . . ."

I did not understand at first and asked who was speaking.

"My name will convey nothing to you," was the answer. "Benjamin Prevotelle. I'm not a person of any particular importance. I am an engineer by profession; I left the Central School two years ago."

I interrupted him:

"One moment, please, one moment. . . . Hullo! . . . Are you there?

. . . Benjamin Prevotelle? But I know your name! . . . Yes, I remember, I've seen it in my uncle's papers."

"Do you mean that? You've seen my name in Noel Dorgeroux's papers?"

"Yes, in the middle of a paper, without comment of any kind."

The speaker's excitement increased:

"Oh," he said, "can it be possible? If Noel Dorgeroux made a note of my name, it proves that he read a pamphlet of mine, a year ago, and that he believed in the explanation of which I am beginning to catch a glimpse to-day."

"What explanation?" I asked, somewhat impatiently.

"You'll understand, monsieur, you'll understand when you read my report."

"Your report?"

"A report which I am writing now, to-night. . . . Listen: I was present at both the exhibitions in the Yard and I have discovered.

"Discovered what, hang it all?"

"The problem, monsieur, the solution of the problem."

"What!" I exclaimed. "You've discovered it?"

"Yes, monsieur. I may tell you it's a very simple problem, so simple that I am anxious to be first in the field. Imagine, if any one else were to publish the truth before me! So I rang up Meudon on the chance of getting you called to the telephone. . . . Oh, do listen to me, monsieur: you must believe me and help me. . . ."

"Of course, of course," I replied, "but I don't quite see . . ."

"Yes, yes," Benjamin Prevotelle implored, appealing to me, clinging to me, so to speak, in a despairing tone of voice. "You can do a great deal. I only want a few particulars. . . ."

I confess that Benjamin Prevotelle's statements left me a little doubtful. However, I answered:

"If a few particulars can be of any use to you . . ."

"Perhaps one alone will do," he said. "It's this. The wall with the screen was entirely rebuilt by your uncle, Noel Dorgeroux, was it not?"

"Yes."

"And this wall, as you have said and as every one had observed, forms a given angle with its lower part."

"Yes."

"On the other hand, according to your depositions, Noel Dorgeroux intended to have a second amphitheatre built in his garden and to use the back of the same wall as a screen. That's so, is it not?"

"Yes."

"Well, this is the particular which I want you to give me. Have you noticed whether the back of the wall forms the same angle with its lower part?"

"Yes, I've noticed that."

"In that case," said Benjamin Prevotelle, with a note of increasing triumph in his voice, "the evidence is complete. Noel Dorgeroux and I are agreed. The pictures do not come from the wall itself. The cause lies elsewhere. I will prove it; and, if M. Ma.s.signac would show a little willingness to help . . ."

"Theodore Ma.s.signac was kidnapped this evening," I remarked.

"Kidnapped? What do you mean?"

I repeated:

"Yes, kidnapped; and I presume that the amphitheatre will be closed until further notice."

"But this is terrible, it's awful!" gasped Benjamin Prevotelle. "Why, in that case they couldn't verify my theory! There would never be any more pictures! No, look here, it's impossible. Just think, I don't know the indispensable formula! n.o.body does, except Ma.s.signac. Oh, no, it is absolutely necessary . . . Hullo, hullo! Don't cut me off, mademoiselle! . . . One moment more, monsieur. I'll tell you the whole truth about the pictures. Three or four words will be enough. . . .

Hullo, hullo! . . ."

Benjamin Prevotelle's voice suddenly died away. I was clearly aware of the insuperable distance that separated him from me at the very moment when I was about to learn the miraculous truth which he in his turn laid claim to have discovered.

I waited anxiously. A few minutes pa.s.sed. Twice the telephone-bell rang without my receiving any call. I decided to go away and had reached the bottom of the stairs when I was summoned back in a hurry.

Some one was asking for me on the wire.

"Some one!" I said, going upstairs again. "But it must be the same person."