s splashed with blood, that was
shuddering, so to speak, with crime, and yet face to face with the still
warm bodies of three murdered men he could talk of sleep!

But, after all, what did it matter to him? He had seen so many similar
scenes in his time. And does not habit infallibly lead to professional
indifference, making the soldier cool and composed in the midst of
conflict, and rendering the surgeon impassible when the patient shrieks
and writhes beneath his operating knife.

"I have been upstairs, looking about," pursued Father Absinthe; "I saw a
bed up there, and we can mount guard here, by turns."

With an imperious gesture, Lecoq interrupted him. "You must give up
that idea, Father Absinthe," he said, "we are not here to sleep, but to
collect information--to make the most careful researches, and to note
all the probabilities. In a few hours the commissary of police, the
legal physician, and the public prosecutor will be here. I wish to have
a report ready for them."

This proposition seemed anything but pleasing to the old police agent.
"Eh! what is the use of that?" he exclaimed. "I know the General. When
he goes in search of the commissary, as he has gone this evening, there
is nothing more to be done. Do you think you can see anything that he
didn't see?"

"I think that Gevrol, like every one else, is liable to be mistaken. I
think that he believes too implicitly in what seems to him evidence. I
could swear that this affair is not what it seems to be; and I am sure
that if we like we can discover the mystery which is concealed beneath
present appearances."

Although Lecoq's vehemence was intense, he did not succeed in making
any impression upon his companion, who with a yawn that threatened to
dislocate his jaws replied: "Perhaps you are right; but I am going to
bed. This need not prevent you from searching around, however; and if
you find anything you can wake me."

Lecoq made no sign of impatience: nor in reality was he impatient. These
words afforded him the opportunity for which he was longing. "You will
give me a moment first," he remarked. "In five minutes, by your watch, I
promise to let you put your finger on the mystery that I suspect here."

"Well, go on for five minutes."

"After that you shall be free, Father Absinthe. Only it is clear that if
I unravel the mystery alone, I alone ought to pocket the reward that a
solution will certainly bring."

At the word "reward" the old police ag