as something under the big stone that broke off the
altar--I pushed the stone--and I touched--I shall never--shall never
forget.--"

"Where is it?"

"On this side.--Don't you notice the smell?--And then look--see."

He took the candle and held it towards a motionless form stretched upon
the ground.

"Oh!" exclaimed Beautrelet, in a horror-stricken tone.

The three men bent down quickly. The corpse lay half-naked, lean,
frightful. The flesh, which had the greenish hue of soft wax, appeared
in places through the torn clothes. But the most hideous thing, the
thing that had drawn a cry of terror from the young man's lips, was the
head, the head which had just been crushed by the block of stone, the
shapeless head, a repulsive mass in which not one feature could be
distinguished.

Beautrelet took four strides up the ladder and fled into the daylight
and the open air.

M. Filleul found him again lying flat on the around, with his hands
glued to his face:

"I congratulate you, Beautrelet," he said. "In addition to the
discovery of the hiding-place, there are two points on which I have
been able to verify the correctness of your assertions. First of all,
the man on whom Mlle. de Saint-Veran fired was indeed Arsene Lupin, as
you said from the start. Also, he lived in Paris under the name of
Etienne de Vaudreix. His linen is marked with the initials E. V. That
ought to be sufficient proof, I think: don't you?"

Isidore did not stir.

"Monsieur le Comte has gone to have a horse put to. They're sending for
Dr. Jouet, who will make the usual examination. In my opinion, death
must have taken place a week ago, at least. The state of decomposition
of the corpse--but you don't seem to be listening--"

"Yes, yes."

"What I say is based upon absolute reasons. Thus, for instance--"

M. Filleul continued his demonstrations, without, however, obtaining
any more manifest marks of attention. But M. de Gesvres's return
interrupted his monologue. The comte brought two letters. One was to
tell him that Holmlock Shears would arrive next morning.

"Capital!" cried M. Filleul, joyfully. "Inspector Ganimard will be here
too. It will be delightful."

"The other letter is for you, Monsieur le Juge d'Instruction," said the
comte.

"Better and better," said M. Filleul, after reading it. "There will
certainly not be much for those two gentlemen to do. M. Beautrelet, I
hear from Dieppe that the body of a young woman was found by some