" he said. "Where is Guerchard?"

M. Formery presented Guerchard to him.

"Are you on their track? Have you a clue?" said the millionaire.

"I think," said M. Formery in an impressive tone, "that we may now
proceed with the inquiry in the ordinary way."

He was a little piqued by the millionaire's so readily turning from him
to the detective. He went to a writing-table, set some sheets of paper
before him, and prepared to make notes on the answers to his questions.
The Duke came back into the drawing-room; the inspector was summoned.
M. Gournay-Martin sat down on a couch with his hands on his knees and
gazed gloomily at M. Formery. Germaine, who was sitting on a couch near
the door, waiting with an air of resignation for her father to cease
his lamentations, rose and moved to a chair nearer the writing-table.
Guerchard kept moving restlessly about the room, but noiselessly. At
last he came to a standstill, leaning against the wall behind M.
Formery.

M. Formery went over all the matters about which he had already
questioned the Duke. He questioned the millionaire and his daughter
about the Charolais, the theft of the motor-cars, and the attempted
theft of the pendant. He questioned them at less length about the
composition of their household--the servants and their characters. He
elicited no new fact.

He paused, and then he said, carelessly as a mere matter of routine: "I
should like to know, M. Gournay-Martin, if there has ever been any
other robbery committed at your house?"

"Three years ago this scoundrel Lupin--" the millionaire began
violently.

"Yes, yes; I know all about that earlier burglary. But have you been
robbed since?" said M. Formery, interrupting him.

"No, I haven't been robbed since that burglary; but my daughter has,"
said the millionaire.

"Your daughter?" said M. Formery.

"Yes; I have been robbed two or three times during the last three
years," said Germaine.

"Dear me! But you ought to have told us about this before. This is
extremely interesting, and most important," said M. Formery, rubbing
his hands, "I suppose you suspect Victoire?"

"No, I don't," said Germaine quickly. "It couldn't have been Victoire.
The last two thefts were committed at the chateau when Victoire was in
Paris in charge of this house."

M. Formery seemed taken aback, and he hesitated, consulting his notes.
Then he said: "Good--good. That confirms my hypothesis."

"What hypothesis?" said M. Gournay-Marti