most graphic manner the scene which had taken
place in the grand parlor between Mme. de Thaller and a worse than
suspicious-looking man,--that scene, the secret of which had been
revealed to him in its minutest details by the looking-glass. Its
meaning was now as clear as day.

This suspicious-looking man had been one of the agents in arranging
the intended murder: hence the agitation of the baroness when she
had received his card, and her haste to join him. If she had
started when he first spoke to her, it was because he was telling
her of the successful execution of the crime. If she had afterwards
made a gesture of joy, it was because he had just informed her that
the coachman had been killed at the same time, and that she found
herself thus rid of a dangerous accomplice.

The commissary of police shook his head.

"All this is quite probable," he murmured; "but that's all."

Again M. de Tregars stopped him.

"I have not done yet," he said.

And he went on saying how he had been suddenly and brutally
assaulted by an unknown man in a restaurant; how he had collared
this abject scoundrel, and taken out of his pocket a crushing letter,
which left no doubt as to the nature of his mission.

The commissary's eyes were sparkling,

"That letter!" he exclaimed, "that letter!" And, as soon as he had
looked over it,

"Ah! This time," he resumed, "I think that we have something
tangible. 'A troublesome gentleman to keep quiet,'--the Marquis
de Tregars, of course, who is on the right track. 'It will be for
you the matter of a sword-thrust.' Naturally, dead men tell no
tales. 'It will be for us the occasion of dividing a round amount.'
An honest trade, indeed!"

The good man was rubbing his hand with all his might.

"At last we have a positive fact," he went on,--"a foundation upon
which to base our accusations. Don't be uneasy. That letter is
going to place into our hands the scoundrel who assaulted you,--who
will make known the go-between, who himself will not fail to
surrender the Baroness de Thaller. Lucienne shall be avenged. If
we could only now lay our hands on Vincent Favoral! But we'll find
him yet. I set two fellows after him this afternoon, who have a
superior scent, and understand their business."

He was here interrupted by Maxence, who was returning all out of
breath, holding in his hand the medicines which he had gone after.

"I thought that druggist would never get through," he said.