loset. Robelot did not
resist, but he asked for some water and a light. They gave him a
bottle of water and a glass.

"As for a light," said M. Lecoq, "you may dispense with it. You'll
be playing us some dirty trick."

M. Plantat, having shut the closet-door, took the detective's hand.

"Monsieur," said he, earnestly, "you have probably just saved my
life at the peril of your own; I will not thank you. The day will
come, I trust, when I may--"

The detective interrupted him with a gesture.

"You know how I constantly expose myself," said he, "once more or
less does not matter much. Besides, it does not always serve a man
to save his life." He was pensive a moment, then added: "You will
thank me after awhile, when I have gained other titles to your
gratitude."

M. Gendron also cordially shook the detective's hand, saying:

"Permit me to express my admiration of you. I had no idea what the
resources of such a man as you were. You got here this morning
without information, without details, and by the mere scrutiny of
the scene of the crime, by the sole force of reasoning, have found
the criminal: more, you have proved to us that the criminal could
be no other than he whom you have named."

M. Lecoq bowed modestly. These praises evidently pleased him greatly.

"Still," he answered, "I am not yet quite satisfied. The guilt of
the Count de Tremorel is of course abundantly clear to me. But what
motives urged him? How was he led to this terrible impulse to kill
his wife, and make it appear that he, too, had been murdered?"

"Might we not conclude," remarked the doctor, "that, disgusted with
Madame de Tremorel, he has got rid of her to rejoin another woman,
adored by him to madness?"

M. Lecoq shook his head.

"People don't kill their wives for the sole reason that they are
tired of them and love others. They quit their wives, live with
the new loves--that's all. That happens every day, and neither
the law nor public opinion condemns such people with great severity."

"But it was the wife who had the fortune."

"That wasn't the case here. I have been posting myself up. M. de
Tremorel had a hundred thousand crowns, the remains of a colossal
fortune saved by his friend Sauvresy; and his wife by the marriage
contract made over a half million to him. A man can live in ease
anywhere on eight hundred thousand francs. Besides, the count was
master of all the funds of the estate. He could sell, buy, realize,
borrow, d