hat examination
was not in your hands, and I regret it, because I am of the opinion that
there are points of connection interlinking all these mysterious
affairs--you have not forgotten, I am sure, that when the investigations
were over and Monsieur Thomery's guests had been allowed to leave the
house, that a thread of flax was discovered hanging to the window
fastening of the room in which Princess Danidoff had been found
unconscious. This flax thread was very strong, and was broken at the
end: it is easy to conclude that the stolen pearls had been temporarily
fastened to it. This led me to think that the aggressor, or aggressors,
had remained in the reception rooms during the whole course of the
investigations, since it is proved that no one left the house....

"... But, after all, we are not here to investigate the Thomery
affair.... I wished to explain why I had examined the window and
shutters Of Mademoiselle Dollon's room: I wanted to ascertain whether
the procedure of the would-be murderer of Mademoiselle Dollon was
similar to that of the robber in the Danidoff-Thomery case."

"And what conclusion did you come to?" asked the magistrate.

"Window and shutters bore no traces that I could see," said Fandor. "I
could not come to any conclusion."

Here Monsieur Barbey intervened.

"If I may be allowed to say so"--he glanced at the magistrate for the
required permission, which was given with a smile and gesture of
assent--"I quite agree with Monsieur Jerome Fandor. I also am convinced
that, even if there is not a close connection between the Thomery affair
and the Auteuil affair, at least there exists such a connection between
the Auteuil affair and the terrible drama of rue Norvins."

"I would go even further than that," declared Monsieur Nanteuil. "The
robbery of rue du Quatre Septembre, of which we are the victims, is also
connected with this same series of mysterious cases."

The magistrate asked a question.

"It is a matter of twenty millions, is it not? It must have been a
terrible blow to you?"

"Fearful, monsieur," replied Monsieur Nanteuil. "Our credit was shaken:
it affected a considerable number of our clients, Monsieur Thomery
among them, and we consider him one of our most important clients. You
are aware, of course, that in financial matters confidence is almost
everything!... Our losses have just been covered by an insurance, but we
have suffered other than direct material losses. Still"--the b