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322 take him long to operate. There was no noise or fuss about it, either; and we went down into the court and got into his car and slipped off down the right bank of the Seine as if we were going for a little airing. We took it easily, though, for the six plain-clothes men were following us in taxis driven by special police chauffeurs.

The Prefect was silent for a while, but I could tell he was doing some hard thinking by the number of white bristles he pulled out of his moustache. Presently he said:

"What was your motive in giving me this information—a desire to be of service to the State?"

"A desire to be of service to myself, monsieur," I answered, and the Prefect cackled outright. He himself loved the State about as much as any stiff-necked old royalist could be expected to love a poorly run republic.

"Perhaps Le Tondeur regards you as a renegade and would like to be rid of you," he suggested.

"I doubt if he knows I am alive," I answered, and with perfect truth. As a matter of fact, I think Chu-Chu had been waiting in the Bon Cocher with the idea of poisoning Ivan, who had probably told him that he expected to lunch with Léontine after their conference. My presence he no doubt regarded as a direct act of friendship on the part of his patron, the devil. No doubt he would have been quite pleased to have gathered in the three of us, knowing that Léontine would remain a partisan to Ivan. The poison was not so quick that we might not have gone all together if served at the same time. Chu-Chu was rather adept with poisons.