ays. But don't you see that is
what I didn't want? It was necessary to suppress Martinez, but, in
suppressing him as I did, there was also good sport. And when a man has
everything, Coquenil, good sport is mighty rare."

"I see, I see," murmured the detective. "And you let Alice live all these
years for the same reason?"

"Yes."

"The wood-carver game diverted you?"

"Precisely. It put a bit of ginger into existence." He paused, and half
closing his eyes, added musingly: "I'll miss it now. And I'll miss the zest
of fighting you."

"Ah!" said Coquenil. "By the way, how long have you known that I was
working here in your stable?"

The baron smiled. "Since the first day."

"And--you knew about the valet?"

"Naturally."

"And about the safe?"

"It was all arranged."

"Then--then you _wanted_ me to read the diary?"

"Yes," answered the other with a strange expression. "I knew that if you
read my diary I should be protected."

"I don't understand."

"Of course not, but--" Suddenly his voice grew harsher and M. Paul thought
of the meeting on the Champs Elysees. "Do you realize, sir," the baron went
on, and his voice was almost menacing, "that not once but half a dozen
times since this affair started, I have been on the point of crushing you,
of sweeping you out of my path?"

"I can believe that."

"Why haven't I done it? Why have I held back the order that was trembling
on my lips? Because I admire you, I'm interested in the workings of your
mind, I, yes, by God, in spite of your stubbornness and everything, I like
you, Coquenil, and I don't want to harm you.

"You may not believe it," he went on, "but when you sent word to the
Brazilian Embassy the other day that you would accept the Rio Janeiro
offer, after all, I was honestly happy _for you_, not for myself. What did
it matter to me? I was relieved to know that you were out of danger, that
you had come to your senses. Then suddenly you went mad again and, and did
this. So I said to myself: 'All right, he wants it, he'll get it,' and, I
let you read the diary."

"Why?"

"Why?" cried the baron hoarsely. "Don't you _see_ why? You know everything
now, _everything_. It isn't guesswork, it isn't deduction, it's absolute
certainty. You have _seen_ my confession, you _know_ that I killed
Martinez, that I robbed this girl of her fortune, that I am going to let an
innocent man suffer in my place. You know that to be true, don't you?"

"Yes, I know it to be