in her bearing. But the something in his brain, the something
that made him what he was, whispered to him that he had done right, and
that he must follow up the trail he had found. That gave him back his
usual calm.

He took up his hat, and standing before the pale-faced woman, looking
her firmly in the eyes, he said: "It is true that I have no right as yet
to force my way into your house, therefore I have been obliged to enter
it as best I could. I have done this often in my work, but I do it
for the safety of society. And those who reproach me for doing it are
generally those whom I have been obliged to persecute in the name of
the law. Mrs. Bernauer, I will confess that there are moments in which I
feel ashamed that I have chosen this profession that compels me to
hunt down human beings. But I do not believe that this is one of those
moments. You have read this morning's papers; you must know, therefore,
that a man has been arrested and accused of the murder which interests
you so much; you must be able to realise the terror and anxiety which
are now filling this man's heart. For to-day's papers--I have read them
myself--expressed the public sentiment that the police may succeed in
convicting this man of the crime, that the death may be avenged and
justice have her due. Several of these papers, the papers I know you
have bought and presumably read, do not doubt that Johann Knoll is the
murderer of Leopold Winkler.

"Now there are at least two people who do not believe that Knoll is the
murderer. I am one of them, and you, Mrs. Bernauer, you are the other.
I am going now and when I come again, as I doubtless will come again,
I will come with full right to enter this house. I acknowledge frankly
that I have no justification in causing your arrest as yet, but you are
quite clever enough to know that if I had the faintest justification I
would not leave here alone. And one thing more I have to say. You may
not know that I have had the most extraordinary luck in my profession,
that in more than a hundred cases there have been but two where the
criminal I was hunting escaped me. And now, Mrs. Bernauer, I will bid
you good day."

Muller stepped towards the window and motioned to Franz, who was walking
up and down outside. The old man ran to the door and met the detective
in the hall.

"You'd better go in and look after Mrs. Bernauer," said the latter, "I
can find my way out alone."

Franz looked after him, shaking hi