vice and you have brought us a convincing proof of Guespin's
innocence."

M. Domini looked on at this scene with secret chagrin. His recruit
went over to the enemy, yielding without a struggle to a confessed
superiority. M. Lecoq's presumption, in speaking of a prisoner's
innocence whose guilt seemed to the judge indisputable, exasperated
him.

"And what is this tremendous proof, if you please?" asked he.

"It is simple and striking," answered M. Lecoq, putting on his most
frivolous air as his conclusions narrowed the field of probabilities.

"You doubtless recollect that when we were at Valfeuillu we found
the hands of the clock in the bedroom stopped at twenty minutes past
three. Distrusting foul play, I put the striking apparatus in
motion--do you recall it? What happened? The clock struck eleven.
That convinced us that the crime was committed before that hour. But
don't you see that if Guespin was at the Vulcan's Forges at ten he
could not have got back to Valfeuillu before midnight? Therefore it
was not--he who did the deed."

The detective, as he came to this conclusion, pulled out the
inevitable box and helped himself to a lozenge, at the same time
bestowing upon the judge a smile which said:

"Get out of that, if you can."

The judge's whole theory tumbled to pieces if M. Lecoq's deductions
were right; but he could not admit that he had been so much
deceived; he could not renounce an opinion formed by deliberate
reflection.

"I don't pretend that Guespin is the only criminal," said he. "He
could only have been an accomplice; and that he was."

"An accomplice? No, Judge, he was a victim. Ah, Tremorel is a
great rascal! Don't you see now why he put forward the hands? At
first I didn't perceive the object of advancing the time five hours;
now it is clear. In order to implicate Guespin the crime must
appear to have been committed after midnight, and--"

He suddenly checked himself and stopped with open mouth and fixed
eyes as a new idea crossed his mind. The judge, who was bending
over his papers trying to find something to sustain his position,
did not perceive this.

"But then," said the latter, "how do you explain Guespin's refusal
to speak and to give an account of where he spent the night?"

M. Lecoq had now recovered from his emotion, and Dr. Gendron and M.
Plantat, who were watching him with the deepest attention, saw a
triumphant light in his eyes. Doubtless he had just found a
solution of t