"It would be abominable of me to spoil this child's love affair for what are less than suspicions on my part--only the vaguest hypothesis!"
Juve smoked and ruminated as he paced the lonely quay.
"I need not worry," concluded he at last. "Granting that we shall clear up all these mysteries, Wilhelmine's innocence, her candour, will be made manifest; that being so, Henri de Loubersac will be the first to acknowledge it, the first to beg her forgiveness!... Lovers' quarrels are not serious quarrels--so!"...
Sailors seeking their fishing-boats swung past him in the growing light of day.
"I told them to put on a special for the night, and they have instructions to send me any telegrams.... Still, it is six o'clock.... I will see if there is anything fresh!"
Juve found de Loubersac fast asleep in the sentry box, and shook him by the shoulder.
"Lieutenant!... Lieutenant!" he shouted: "Wake up! I want you to keep watch while I run to Headquarters here.... There may be news!"
De Loubersac jumped up, wide awake in a moment. He took his turn on the quay at once. Juve hurried to the police station. He was on the doorstep when a telegraph boy rode up with a telegram. It was for our detective. The paper shook in Juve's hands as his eyes devoured the message: it was in cypher.
_"Corporal Vinson taken refuge in London--recognised and identified by me this morning at four o'clock when leaving Victoria Station. I followed him and know where he is. What to be done next? Awaiting your orders."_
Juve wondered whether he was on his head or his heels. Vinson in London! Left Victoria Station this morning! What did it mean?
"The wire is precise in its details. The man who sends it is a sharp police spy--never hesitates, never makes a blunder!... It seems evident that Vinson has given us the slip! He must have reached the coast at some point, and, in an unnoticed boat, has passed under our noses this very night!... Here's a go! The very deuce of a go!"
Intensely irritated, excited, Juve read and reread the telegram, fussed and fumed about the police station under the scared eyes of the policeman on guard duty. That worthy began to think the detective from Paris was an unmitigated nuisance.
Juve did not take this humble colleague into his confidence. He issued orders.