f do you want?"

"I must remain alone in this room."

"I do not understand," I said, with surprise.

"It's an idea that occurred to me when reading your article. Certain
details established an extraordinary coincidence with another case that
came under my notice. If I am mistaken, I shall say nothing more. And
the only means of ascertaining the truth is by my remaining in the room
alone."

What was at the bottom of this proposition? Later, I recalled that the
man was exceedingly nervous; but, at the same time, although somewhat
astonished, I found nothing particularly abnormal about the man or the
request he had made. Moreover, my curiosity was aroused; so I replied:

"Very well. How much time do you require?"

"Oh! three minutes--not longer. Three minutes from now, I will rejoin
you."

I left the room, and went downstairs. I took out my watch. One minute
passed. Two minutes. Why did I feel so depressed? Why did those moments
seem so solemn and weird? Two minutes and a half....Two minutes and
three quarters. Then I heard a pistol shot.

I bounded up the stairs and entered the room. A cry of horror escaped
me. In the middle of the room, the man was lying on his left side,
motionless. Blood was flowing from a wound in his forehead. Near his
hand was a revolver, still smoking.

But, in addition to this frightful spectacle, my attention was attracted
by another object. At two feet from the body, upon the floor, I saw
a playing-card. It was the seven of hearts. I picked it up. The lower
extremity of each of the seven spots was pierced with a small round
hole.

* * * * *

A half-hour later, the commissary of police arrived, then the coroner
and the chief of the Surete, Mon. Dudouis. I had been careful not to
touch the corpse. The preliminary inquiry was very brief, and disclosed
nothing. There were no papers in the pockets of the deceased; no name
upon his clothes; no initial upon his linen; nothing to give any clue
to his identity. The room was in the same perfect order as before. The
furniture had not been disturbed. Yet this man had not come to my house
solely for the purpose of killing himself, or because he considered my
place the most convenient one for his suicide! There must have been a
motive for his act of despair, and that motive was, no doubt, the result
of some new fact ascertained by him during the three minutes he was
alone.

What was that fact? What had he seen? What frightful secret had been