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-Elysees to the Arch and so down the
Avenue de la Grande Armee, and the Avenue de Neuilly, to the Pont de
Neuilly, where it came to a standstill.
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