Page 58 - down-and-out-in-paris-and-london

have found somebody else to do their articles.
Ten days later we made another visit to the office of the
secret society, taking care to bring a parcel that looked like
washing. And the secret society had vanished! The wom-
an in the laundry knew nothing—she simply said that ‘CES
MESSIEURS’ had left some days ago, after trouble about the
rent. What fools we looked, standing there with our parcel!
But it was a consolation that we had paid only five francs
instead of twenty.
And that was the last we ever heard of the secret society.
Who or what they really were, nobody knew. Personally I
do not think they had anything to do with the Communist
Party; I think they were simply swindlers, who preyed upon
Russian refugees by extracting entrance fees to an imagi-
nary society. It was quite safe, and no doubt they are still
doing it in some other city. They were clever fellows, and
played their part admirably. Their office looked exactly as a
secret Communist office should look, and as for that touch
about bringing a parcel of washing, it was genius.