The Triumphs of Eugène Valmont | Page 8

a few minutes past three o'clock on the Boulevard des
Italiens, near the Crédit-Lyonnais? Had he a short black beard? Did he carry a small box
in his hand and order you to drive to the Madeleine?'
The cabman seemed puzzled.
'He wore a short black beard when he got out of the cab,' he replied.
'What do you mean by that?'
'I drive a closed cab, sir. When he got in he was a smooth-faced gentleman; when he got
out he wore a short black beard.'
'Was he a Frenchman?'
'No, sir; he was a foreigner, either English or American.'

'Was he carrying a box?'
'No, sir; he held in his hand a small leather bag.'
'Where did he tell you to drive?'
'He told me to follow the cab in front, which had just driven off very rapidly towards the
Madeleine. In fact, I heard the man, such as you describe, order the other cabman to drive
to the Madeleine. I had come alongside the curb when this man held up his hand for a cab,
but the open cab cut in ahead of me. Just then my passenger stepped up and said in
French, but with a foreign accent: "Follow that cab wherever it goes."'
I turned with some indignation to my inefficient spy.
'You told me,' I said, 'that the American had gone down a side street. Yet he evidently
met a second man, obtained from him the handbag, turned back, and got into the closed
cab directly behind you.'
'Well, sir,' stammered the spy, 'I could not look in two directions at the same time. The
American certainly went down the side street, but of course I watched the cab which
contained the jewels.'
'And you saw nothing of the closed cab right at your elbow?'
'The boulevard was full of cabs, sir, and the pavement crowded with passers-by, as it
always is at that hour of the day, and I have only two eyes in my head.'
'I am glad to know you had that many, for I was beginning to think you were blind.'
Although I said this, I knew in my heart it was useless to censure the poor wretch, for the
fault was entirely my own in not sending two men, and in failing to guess the possibility
of the jewels and their owner being separated. Besides, here was a clue to my hand at last,
and no time must be lost in following it up. So I continued my interrogation of the
cabman.
'The other cab was an open vehicle, you say?'
'Yes, sir.'
'You succeeded in following it?'
'Oh, yes, sir. At the Madeleine the man in front redirected the coachman, who turned to
the left and drove to the Place de la Concorde, then up the Champs-Elysées to the Arch
and so down the Avenue de la Grande Armée, and the Avenue de Neuilly, to the Pont de
Neuilly, where it came to a standstill. My fare got out, and I saw he now wore a short
black beard, which he had evidently put on inside the cab. He gave me a ten-franc piece,
which was very satisfactory.

'And the fare you were following? What did he do?'
'He also stepped out, paid the cabman, went down the bank of the river and got on board
a steam launch that seemed to be waiting for him.'
'Did he look behind, or appear to know that he was being followed?'
'No, sir.'
'And your fare?'
'He ran after the first man, and also went aboard the steam launch, which instantly started
down the river.'
'And that was the last you saw of them?'
'Yes, sir.'
'At what time did you reach the Pont de Neuilly?'
'I do not know, sir; I was compelled to drive rather fast, but the distance is seven to eight
kilometres.'
'You would do it under the hour?'
'But certainly, under the hour.'
'Then you must have reached Neuilly bridge about four o'clock?'
'It is very likely, sir.'
The plan of the tall American was now perfectly clear to me, and it comprised nothing
that was contrary to law. He had evidently placed his luggage on board the steam launch
in the morning. The handbag had contained various materials which would enable him to
disguise himself, and this bag he had probably left in some shop down the side street, or
else someone was waiting with it for him. The giving of the treasure to another man was
not so risky as it had at first appeared, because he instantly followed that man, who was
probably his confidential servant. Despite the windings of the river there was ample time
for the launch to reach Havre before the American steamer sailed on Saturday morning. I
surmised it was