t hacked with a sword, for the mere purpose of
ripping the cloth--the seats were thus examined. My conviction
of the certainty that there had been a most desperate search, at
first roused my suspicions. I said to myself, 'The villains have
been looking for the money which was concealed; therefore they did
not belong to the household.'"

"But," observed the doctor, "they might belong to the house, and
yet not know the money was hidden; for Guespin--"

"Permit me," interrupted M. Lecoq, "I will explain myself. On the
other hand, I found indications that the assassin must have been
closely connected with Madame de Tremorel--her lover, or her
husband. These were the ideas that then struck me."

"And now?"

"Now," responded the detective, "with the certainty that something
besides booty might have been the object of the search, I am not
far from thinking that the guilty man is he whose body is being
searched for--the Count Hector de Tremorel."

M. Plantat and Dr. Gendron had divined the name; but neither had
as yet dared to utter his suspicions. They awaited this name of
Tremorel; and yet, pronounced as it was in the middle of the night,
in this great sombre room, by this at least strange personage, it
made them shudder with an indescribable fright.

"Observe," resumed M. Lecoq, "what I say; I believe it to be so.
In my eyes, the count's guilt is only as yet extremely probable.
Let us see if we three can reach the certainty of it. You see,
gentlemen, the inquest of a crime is nothing more nor less than
the solution of a problem. Given the crime, proved, patent, you
commence by seeking out all the circumstances, whether serious or
superficial; the details and the particulars. When these have been
carefully gathered, you classify them, and put them in their order
and date. You thus know the victim, the crime, and the
circumstances; it remains to find the third term of the problem,
that is, x, the unknown quantity--the guilty party. The task is
a difficult one, but not so difficult as is imagined. The object
is to find a man whose guilt explains all the circumstances, all
the details found--all, understand me. Find such a man, and it
is probable--and in nine cases out of ten, the probability becomes
a reality--that you hold the perpetrator of the crime."

So clear had been M. Lecoq's exposition, so logical his argument,
that his hearers could not repress an admiring exclamation:

"Very good! Very good!"

"Let us th