Walking to and fro on the pavement, and scrutinising every article brought out from the building by his assistants, I perceived M. Rattache himself. In a minute he caught sight of me, and came towards me with extended arms. He knew, of course, that I thoroughly understood the game. Nevertheless, his expression of sympathetic distress was perfect. ‘My dear V----! What an unlucky chance! Behold me overwhelmed with grief at your misfortune!’ ‘You are too good,’ I returned drily. ‘There is nothing of any value in the house, I am glad to say. This accident will merely give me the annoyance of sleeping in a hotel for the next few nights.’ ‘Do not say that, my dear colleague,’ M. Rattache responded eagerly. ‘You will confer a real favour on me by consenting to accept my hospitality for a short time, till your house is ready for you again.’ I glanced at him with suspicion. Did this mean that I was to be under arrest? ‘I cannot thank you sufficiently for such kindness,’ was my answer. ‘But I am afraid I should cause you too much inconvenience. My hours are very irregular; sometimes it is necessary for me to be at my office in the middle of the night.’ ‘Do not let yourself be restrained by such considerations,’ he replied earnestly. ‘You shall be as free as if you were under your own roof.’ It would have been ungracious to persist in my refusal, especially as I fancied from M. Rattache’s tone that he had already come to the conclusion that his raid on my house was a mistake, and really regretted the inconvenience he had caused me. On the whole, the arrangement was not such a bad one for me. While I should have been exposed to the surveillance of my antagonist in any case, this plan would place him under mine. We should be like the combatants in the holmgang, who were strapped together, and placed on a small island, to hack each other to pieces with knives. I moved into my new quarters the same day, some of my personal baggage being brought round by the pretended firemen, who must have wondered to see me on such terms with their chief. Rattache presented me to his wife, a most charming woman with three little daughters, whose hearts I immediately won by organising all sorts of games at blindman’s buff and hide-and-seek. During the next few days I received cipher wires from my various agents abroad, informing me that their apartments had been searched, and that they were being shadowed by unknown men. I was pleased with these despatches, which proved to me that my men were on the alert. I sent encouraging replies, and persuaded Madame Rattache to accompany me to the theatre. I had already visited a Turkish bath in company with my host, in order to afford him every facility for ascertaining that I was not carrying any portion of the £8,000,000 on my person.