the category of crapulous crimes. The murderer
seems to have left the implicit mark of his character upon his victim;
the very violence of the blows dealt shows that he is a man of the lower
orders, a typical criminal, a professional."

"What do you deduce that from?" M. de Presles enquired.

"Simply from the nature of the wound. You saw it, as I did. Mme. de
Langrune's throat was almost entirely severed by the blade of some
cutting instrument. The breadth and depth of the wound absolutely prove
that it was not made with one stroke; the murderer must have gone amok
and dealt several blows--have gone on striking even when death had
finished his work, or at least was quite inevitable; that shows clearly
that the murderer belongs to a class of individuals who feel no
repugnance for their horrid work, but who kill without horror, and even
without excitement. Again, the nature of the wound shows that the
murderer is a strong man; you no doubt know that weak men with feeble
muscles strike 'deep' by choice, that is to say with a pointed weapon
and aiming at a vital organ, whereas powerful murderers have a
predilection for blows dealt 'superficially,' and for broad, ghastly
wounds. Besides, that is only following a natural law; a weak man
finesses with death, tries to make sure of it at some precise point,
penetrating the heart or severing an artery; a brutal man does not care
where he hits, but trusts to his own brute strength to achieve his
purpose.

"We have next to determine the sort of weapon with which the murder was
committed. We have not got it, at any rate up to the present; I have
given orders for the drains to be emptied, and the pond to be dragged
and the shrubberies to be searched, but, whether our search is crowned
with success or not, I am convinced that the instrument was a knife, one
of those common knives with a catch lock that apaches always carry. If
the murderer had had a weapon whose point was its principal danger, he
would have stabbed, and stabbed to the heart, instead of cutting; but he
used the edge, the part of a knife that is most habitually used, and he
actually cut. When the first wound was made he did not strike anywhere
else, but continued working away at the wound and enlarging it. It is a
point of capital importance that this murder was committed with a knife,
not with a dagger or stiletto, and therefore this is a crapulous crime."

"And what conclusion do you draw from the fact that the cri