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CHAPTER I

THERE appeared in all the evening papers of Tuesday, February 28, 1865 the following paragraphs:

‘An extensive robbery from a well-known banker of the city, M. André Fauvel, this morning caused great excitement in the neighbourhood of the Rue de Provence. The thieves with extraordinary skill and daring succeeded in entering his office, forcing a safe, which was believed to be burglar-proof, and carrying off the enormous sum of 350,000 francs in banknotes.

‘The police, who were at once informed of the robbery, displayed their usual zeal, and their efforts have been crowned with success. One of the employees, “P.B.”, has been arrested; it is to be hoped that his accomplices will soon be in the clutches of the law.’

During four whole days Paris talked of nothing but this robbery.

Then other serious events happened, an acrobat broke his leg at the circus, a young actress made her début at a little theatre, and the paragraph of February 28 was forgotten.

But this time the newspapers, perhaps on purpose, had been badly or inaccurately informed.

A sum of 350,000 francs had, it was true, been stolen from M. André Fauvel, but not in the way indicated. An employee, in fact, had been detained for a time, but no real charge was made against him. The robbery, though of unusual importance, remained unexplained if not inexplicable.

Here are the facts as related in detail in the report of the inquiry.