e table beside the bed lay a silver
watch and a silver twenty-kopeck piece. Beside them lay some sulphur
matches. Beside the bed, the little table, and the single chair, there
was no furniture in the room. Looking under the bed, the inspector saw a
couple of dozen empty bottles, an old straw hat, and a quart of vodka.
Under the table lay one top boot, covered with dust. Casting a glance
around the room, the magistrate frowned and grew red in the face.

"Scoundrels!" he muttered, clenching his fists.

"And where is Marcus Ivanovitch?" asked Dukovski in a low voice.

"Mind your own business!" Chubikoff answered roughly. "Be good enough to
examine the floor! This is not the first case of the kind I have had to
deal with! Eugraph Kuzmitch," he said, turning to the inspector, and
lowering his voice, "in 1870 I had another case like this. But you must
remember it--the murder of the merchant Portraitoff. It was just the
same there. The scoundrels murdered him, and dragged the corpse out
through the window--"

Chubikoff went up to the window, pulled the curtain to one side, and
carefully pushed the window. The window opened.

"It opens, you see! It wasn't fastened. Hm! There are tracks under the
window. Look! There is the track of a knee! Somebody got in there. We
must examine the window thoroughly."

"There is nothing special to be found on the floor," said Dukovski. "No
stains or scratches. The only thing I found was a struck safety match.
Here it is! So far as I remember, Marcus Ivanovitch did not smoke. And
he always used sulphur matches, never safety matches. Perhaps this
safety match may serve as a clew!"

"Oh, do shut up!" cried the magistrate deprecatingly. "You go on about
your match! I can't abide these dreamers! Instead of chasing matches,
you had better examine the bed!"

After a thorough examination of the bed, Dukovski reported:

"There are no spots, either of blood or of anything else. There are
likewise no new torn places. On the pillow there are signs of teeth. The
quilt is stained with something which looks like beer and smells like
beer. The general aspect of the bed gives grounds for thinking that a
struggle took place on it."

"I know there was a struggle, without your telling me! You are not being
asked about a struggle. Instead of looking for struggles, you had
better--"

"Here is one top boot, but there is no sign of the other."

"Well, and what of that?"

"It proves that they strangled h