ition because, in fact, he was
ignorant of the cause of death?"

"Exactly!" snapped Juve.

He was kneeling on the floor, bending over the body. Slowly, minutely,
he was examining it with his keen eyes, by the flickering light of the
mortuary candle.

He had examined successively the face of the dead man, then the arms,
the trunk, the shoulders, the whole body. He did not utter a word.

"What are you looking for in particular, Juve?"

"The cause of this _inhibition_," replied the detective, who
pronounced the word with unconcealed anger and resentment. He seemed
to harbour some subtle rancour regarding the doctor. Suddenly he got
up and, turning to the policeman, commanded:

"Undress this body!"

The superintendent interposed.

"What for?"

"It will be useful for your report."

"Come, now! In what way?"

"For that," said Juve, pointing a finger at the officer's short
coat....

"That? How that?... I don't see anything," protested the
superintendent.

Juve knelt down again, and made a sign to the superintendent to do
likewise.

"Look, Monsieur! Just bend down and look at this tiny graze on the
cloth."

"Yes!... Well?"

"Does that not tell you anything?"

"No it does not."

Juve rose and repeated his order. "Unclothe this corpse!"

Then, turning to the superintendent, he added:

"What that tells me is, that this man has been killed by a shot from a
gun or a revolver."

"Oh, come, now!"

"You will see."...

"The garment is not pierced."...

Juve began to smile.

"Monsieur," said he, "you must know that arms of high penetrating
power, firing projectiles of small diameter, grooved projectiles,
cause only the slightest graze in the materials they pass through: the
damage is almost imperceptible. Numerous experiments have demonstrated
this. You see the passage of the projectile is so rapid, its gyratory
movement so accelerated, that, in some way, the threads of the fabric
are not broken: they are only pushed aside. They come together again
after the passage of the ball, and unless a very careful examination
is made, one would never know that a projectile had perforated the
material."

The two policemen were undressing the corpse.

Scarcely had they undone the waistcoat than the shirt of the
unfortunate man was seen to have a spot of blood on it, in the region
of the heart.

"See," cried Juve. "It is just as I said: a ball of small diameter,
propelled by a formidable power of penetration