LITMIR.BIZ

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      “Alas!” sighed M. Courtois, “we know of worse catastrophes. There is not a week that the papers don’t—”

      He stopped, chagrined, for nobody was listening to him. Plantat claimed the general attention, and continued:

      “The confusion in the house seems to you surprising; well now, I’m surprised that it is not worse than it is. I am, so to speak, an old man; I haven’t the energy of a young man of thirty-five; yet it seems to me that if assassins should get into my house, when I was there, and up, it would go hard with them. I don’t know what I would do; probably I should be killed; but surely I would give the alarm. I would defend myself, and cry out, and open the windows, and set the house afire.”

      “Let us add,” insisted the doctor, “that it is not easy to surprise a man who is awake. There is always an unexpected noise which puts one on his guard. Perhaps it is a creaking door, or a cracking stair. However cautious the murderer, he does not surprise his victim.”

      “They may have used fire-arms;” struck in the worthy mayor, “that has been done. You are quietly sitting in your chamber; it is summer, and your windows are open; you are chatting with your wife, and sipping a cup of tea; outside, the assassins are supplied with a short ladder; one ascends to a level with the window, sights you at his ease, presses the trigger, the bullet speeds—”

      “And,” continued the doctor, “the whole neighborhood, aroused by it, hastens to the spot.”

      “Permit me, pardon, permit me,” said M. Courtois, testily, “that would be so in a populous town. Here, in the midst of a vast park, no. Think, doctor, of the isolation of this house. The nearest neighbor is a long way off, and between there are many large trees, intercepting the sound. Let us test it by experience. I will fire a pistol in this room, and I’ll wager that you will not hear the echo in the road.”

      “In the daytime, perhaps, but not in the night.”

      “Well,” said M. Domini, who had been reflecting while M. Courtois was talking, “if against all hope, Guespin does not decide to speak to-night, or to-morrow, the count’s body will afford us a key to the mystery.”

      During this discussion, M. Lecoq had continued his investigations, lifting the furniture, studying the fractures, examining the smallest pieces, as if they might betray the truth. Now and then, he took out an instrument-case, from which he produced a shank, which he introduced and turned in the locks. He found several keys on the carpet, and on a rack, a towel, which he carefully put one side, as if he deemed it important. He came and went from the bedroom to the count’s cabinet, without losing a word that was said; noting in his memory, not so much the phrases uttered, as the diverse accents and intonations with which they were spoken. In an inquest such as that of the crime of Orcival, when several officials find themselves face to face, they hold a certain reserve toward each other. They know each other to have nearly equal experience, to be shrewd, clear-headed, equally interested in discovering the truth, not disposed to confide in appearances, difficult to surprise. Each one, likely enough, gives a different interpretation to the facts revealed; each may have a different theory of the deed; but a superficial observer would not note these differences. Each, while dissimulating his real thoughts, tries to penetrate those of his neighbor, and if they are opposed to his own, to convert him to his opinion. The great importance of a single word justifies this caution. Men who hold the liberty and lives of others in their hands, a scratch of whose pen condemns to death, are apt to feel heavily the burden of their responsibility. It is an ineffable solace, to feel that this burden is shared by others. This is, why no one dares take the initiative, or express himself openly; but each awaits other opinions, to adopt or oppose them. They exchange fewer affirmations than suggestions. They proceed by insinuation; then they utter commonplaces, ridiculous suppositions, asides, provocative, as it were, of other explanations.

      In this instance, the judge of instruction and Plantat were far from being of the same opinion; they knew it before speaking a word. But M. Domini, whose opinion rested on material and palpable facts, which appeared to him indisputable, was not disposed to provoke contradiction. Plantat, on the contrary, whose system seemed to rest on impressions, on a series of logical deductions, would not clearly express himself, without a positive and pressing invitation. His last speech, impressively uttered, had not been replied to; he judged that he had advanced far enough to sound the detective.

      “Well, Monsieur Lecoq,” asked he, “have you found any new traces?”

      M. Lecoq was at that moment curiously examining a large portrait of the Count Hector, which hung opposite the bed. Hearing M. Plantat’s question, he turned.

      “I have found nothing decisive,” answered he, “and I have found nothing to refute my conjectures. But—”

      He did not finish; perhaps he too, recoiled before his share of the responsibility.

      “What?” insisted M. Domini, sternly.

      “I was going to say,” resumed M. Lecoq, “that I am not yet satisfied. I have my lantern and a candle in it; I only need a match—”

      “Please preserve your decorum,” interrupted the judge severely.

      “Very well, then,” continued M. Lecoq, in a tone too humble to be serious, “I still hesitate. If the doctor, now, would kindly proceed to examine the countess’s body, he would do me a great service.”

      “I was just going to ask the same favor, Doctor,” said M. Domini.

      The doctor answering, “Willingly,” directed his steps toward the door.

      M. Lecoq caught him by the arm.

      “If you please,” said he, in a tone totally unlike that he had used up to this time, “I would like to call your attention to the wounds on the head, made by a blunt instrument, which I suppose to be a hammer. I have studied these wounds, and though I am no doctor, they seem to me suspicious.”

      “And to me,” M. Plantat quickly added. “It seemed to me, that in the places struck, there was no emission of blood in the cutaneous vessels.”

      “The nature of these wounds,” continued M. Lecoq, “will be a valuable indication, which will fix my opinion.” And, as he felt keenly the brusque manner of the judge, he added:

      “It is you, Doctor, who hold the match.”

      M. Gendron was about to leave the room, when Baptiste, the mayor’s servant—the man who wouldn’t be scolded—appeared. He bowed and said:

      “I have come for Monsieur the Mayor.”

      “For me? why?” asked M. Courtois. “What’s the matter? They don’t give me a minute’s rest! Answer that I am busy.”

      “It’s on account of madame,” resumed the placid Baptiste; “she isn’t at all well.” The excellent mayor grew slightly pale.

      “My wife!” cried he, alarmed. “What do you mean? Explain yourself.”

      “The postman arrived just now,” returned Baptiste with a most tranquil air, “and I carried the letters to madame, who was in the drawing-room. Hardly had I turned on my heels when I heard a shriek, and the noise of someone falling to the floor.” Baptiste spoke slowly, taking artful pains to prolong his master’s anguish.

      “Speak! go on!” cried the mayor, exasperated. “Speak, won’t you?”

      “I naturally opened the drawing-room door again. What did I see? madame, at full length on the floor. I called for help; the chambermaid, cook, and others came hastening up, and we carried madame to her bed. Justine said that it was a letter from Mademoiselle Laurence which overcame my mistress—”

      At each word Baptiste hesitated, reflected; his eyes, giving the lie to his solemn face, betrayed the great satisfaction he felt in relating his master’s misfortunes.

      His master was full of consternation. As it is with all of us, when we know not exactly what ill is about to befall us, he dared not ask any questions. He stood still,

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