olding a rather heavy copper
mallet with an iron handle, which he had found there. He was looking at
this mallet with some curiosity, balancing and weighing it in his hands,
when a sudden exclamation of fright from the gendarme drew his eyes to
the trunk, the lid of which had just been thrown back. Juve did not lose
all his professional impassivity, but even he leaped forward like a
flash, swept the gendarme to one side, and dropped on his knees beside
the open box. A horrid spectacle met his eyes. For the trunk contained a
corpse!

The moment Mme. Doulenques caught sight of the ghastly thing, she fell
back into a chair half fainting, and there she remained, unable to move,
with her body hunched forward, and haggard eyes fixed upon the corpse,
of which she caught occasional glimpses as the movements of Juve and the
gendarme every now and then left the shocking thing within the trunk
exposed to her view.

Yet there was nothing especially gruesome or repellent about the
corpse. It was the body of a man of about fifty years of age, with a
pronounced brick-red complexion, and a lofty brow, the height of which
was increased by premature baldness. Long, fair moustaches drooped from
the upper lip almost to the top of the chest. The unfortunate creature
was doubled up in the trunk, with knees bent and head forced down by the
weight of the lid. The body was dressed with a certain fastidiousness,
and it was obviously that of a man of fashion and distinction; there was
no wound to be seen. The calm, quiet face suggested that the victim had
been taken by surprise while in the full vigour of life and killed
suddenly, and had not been subjected to the anguish of a fight for life
or to any slow agony.

Juve half turned to the concierge.

"When did you see M. Gurn last? Exactly, please: it is important."

Mme. Doulenques babbled something unintelligible and then, as the
detective pressed her, made an effort to collect her scattered wits.

"Three weeks ago at least, sir: yes, three weeks exactly; no one has
been here since, I will swear."

Juve made a sign to the gendarme, who understood, and felt the body
carefully.

"Quite stiff, and hard, sir," he said; "yet there is no smell from it.
Perhaps the cold----"

Juve shook his head.

"Even severe cold could not preserve a body in that condition for three
weeks, and it's not cold now, but there is this:" and he showed his
subordinate a small yellowish stain just at the opening