st sight put me off the track, is that these
burglars had the cheek to pierce the wall with an opening large enough
to enable them to remove the furniture of a house."

"It's true," said the Duke. "The opening's as large as a good-sized
window. Those burglars seem capable of everything--even of a
first-class piece of mason's work."

"Oh, this has all been prepared a long while ago. But now I'm really on
their track. And after all, I haven't really lost any time. Dieusy
wasted no time in making inquiries in Sureau Street; he's been working
all this side of the house."

Guerchard drew up the blinds, opened the shutters, and let the daylight
flood the dim room. He came back to the fireplace and looked down at
the heap of bricks, frowning:

"I made a mistake there," he said. "I ought to have taken those bricks
down carefully, one by one."

Quickly he took brick after brick from the pile, and began to range
them neatly against the wall on the left. The Duke watched him for two
or three minutes, then began to help him. It did not take them long,
and under one of the last few bricks Guerchard found a fragment of a
gilded picture-frame.

"Here's where they ought to have done their sweeping," he said, holding
it up to the Duke.

"I tell you what," said the Duke, "I shouldn't wonder if we found the
furniture in this house still."

"Oh, no, no!" said Guerchard. "I tell you that Lupin would allow for
myself or Ganimard being put in charge of the case; and he would know
that we should find the opening in the chimney. The furniture was taken
straight out into the side-street on to which this house opens." He led
the way out of the room on to the landing and went down the dark
staircase into the hall. He opened the shutters of the hall windows,
and let in the light. Then he examined the hall. The dust lay thick on
the tiled floor. Down the middle of it was a lane formed by many feet.
The footprints were faint, but still plain in the layer of dust.
Guerchard came back to the stairs and began to examine them. Half-way
up the flight he stooped, and picked up a little spray of flowers:
"Fresh!" he said. "These have not been long plucked."

"Salvias," said the Duke.

"Salvias they are," said Guerchard. "Pink salvias; and there is only
one gardener in France who has ever succeeded in getting this shade--M.
Gournay-Martin's gardener at Charmerace. I'm a gardener myself."

"Well, then, last night's burglars came from Charmerace.