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206 with it I wish to tell you more about the situation, and I will ask you to believe me, as I shall tell you nothing but the truth. After hearing it, if you would prefer not to be mixed up in the business you have only to say so, when I will pay you for your services up to this point, and you may return to Paris."

Rosalie gave me one of her bright, searching looks.

"Monsieur is fond of romance," said she. "Well, then, so am I. Tell me the story, if you please. Are you D'Artagnan, and is La Petrovski Milady? And if I help you what is to be my reward?"

She seated herself on the cool, shaded bank, clasped her hands in front f her knees, and looked up at me with a mocking little smile. I flung myself down beside her, for the day was hot and the grass sweet and cool.

"In the first place," said I, "let me tell you that the man who drove La Petrovski's taxi is certainly Chu-Chu le Tondeur. Of that there can be no doubt."

Rosalie raised her eyebrows. She looked incredulous yet startled.

"I cannot tell you how I happen to know him," I went on, "but I have every reason to think that Chu-Chu has sworn to take my life. It is, in fact, on that account that he is in disguise, for I will tell you another thing that many people suspect but few know for a certainty. This clever thief and murderer called Chu-Chu le Tondeur is actually a man very well known and well received in Paris