haviour in the
course of the evening that preceded the crime. It struck President
Bonnet and shocked the priest. I also recall his hereditary antecedents,
his mothers insanity, and finally----" Juve broke off abruptly and
unceremoniously dragged the magistrate out of the room and into Charles
Rambert's bedroom. He hurried into the dressing-room adjoining, went
down on his knees on the floor, and laid a finger on the middle of the
oil-cloth that was laid over the boards. "What do you see there, sir?"
he demanded.

The magistrate adjusted his eyeglass and, looking at the place indicated
by the detective, saw a little black stain; he wetted his finger, rubbed
it on the spot, and then, holding up his hand, observed that the tip of
his finger was stained red.

"It is blood," he muttered.

"Yes, blood," said Juve, "and I gather from this that the story of the
blood-stained towel which M. Rambert senior found among his son's
things, and the sight of which so greatly impressed Mlle. Therese, was
not an invention on that young lady's part, but really existed; and it
forms the most damning evidence possible against the young man. He
obviously washed his hands after the crime in the water from the tap
over this wash-hand basin here, but one drop of blood falling on the
towel and dripping on to the floor has been enough to give him away."

The magistrate nodded.

"It is conclusive," he said. "You have just proved to demonstration, M.
Juve, that Charles Rambert is the guilty party. It is beyond argument.
It is conclusive--conclusive!"

There were a couple of seconds of silence, and then Juve suddenly said
"No!"

"No!" he repeated; "it is quite true that we can adduce perfectly
logical arguments to show that the murder was committed by some member
of the household and that, therefore, Charles Rambert is the only
possible culprit; but we can adduce equally logical arguments to show
that the crime was committed by some person who got in from outside:
there is nothing to prove that he did not walk into the house through
the front door."

"The door was locked," said the magistrate.

"That's nothing," said Juve with a laugh. "Don't forget that there isn't
such a thing as a real safety lock nowadays--since all locks can be
opened with an outside key. If I had found one of the good old-fashioned
catch locks on the door, such as they used to make years ago, I should
have said to you: nobody got in, because the only way to get thr