"Do you think ... have you any idea? ... Oh, Steinweg, I implore you! ..."

"I have no idea... . I have not reflected," he muttered. "I must have time to reflect... ."

"Cast about in Mr. Kesselbach's surroundings," said M. Lenormand. "Did nobody take part in your interviews at that time? Was there nobody in whom he himself could have confided?"

"No."

"Think well."

Both the others, Dolores and M. Lenormand, leant toward him, anxiously awaiting his answer.

"No," he said, "I don't see... ."

"Think well," repeated the chief detective. "The murderer's Christian name and surname begin with an L and an M."

"An L," he echoed. "I don't see ... an L ... an M... ."

"Yes, the initials are in gold on the corner of a cigarette-case belonging to the murderer."

"A cigarette-case?" asked Steinweg, making an effort of memory.

"A gun-metal case ... and one of the compartments is divided into two spaces, the smaller for cigarette-papers, the other for tobacco... ."

"Two spaces, two spaces," repeated Steinweg, whose thoughts seemed stimulated by that detail. "Couldn't you show it to me?"

"Here it is, or rather this is an exact reproduction," said M.

Lenormand, giving him a cigarette-case.

"Eh! What!" said Steinweg, taking the case in his hands.

He looked at it with stupid eyes, examined it, turned it over in every direction and, suddenly, gave a cry, the cry of a man struck with a horrible idea. And he stood like that, livid, with trembling hands and wild, staring eyes.

"Speak, come, speak!" said M. Lenormand.

"Oh," he said, as though blinded with light, "now all is explained!

"Speak, speak!"

He walked across to the windows with a tottering step, then returned and, rushing up to the chief detective:

"Sir, sir ... Rudolf's murderer ... I'll tell you... . Well ..."

He stopped short.

"Well?"

There was a moment's pause... . Was the name of the odious criminal about to echo through the great silence of the office, between those walls which had heard so many accusations, so many confessions? M.

Lenormand felt as if he were on the brink of the unfathomable abyss and as if a voice were mounting, mounting up to him... . A few seconds more and he would know... .

"No," muttered Steinweg, "no, I can't... ."

"What's that you say?" cried the chief detective, furiously.

"I say that I can't."

"But you have no right to be silent. The law requires you to speak."

"To-morrow... . I will speak to-morrow ... I must have time to reflect... . To-morrow, I will tell you all that I know about Pierre Leduc ... all that I suppose about that cigarette-case... .

To-morrow, I promise you... ."

It was obvious that he possessed that sort of obstinacy against which the most energetic efforts are of no avail. M. Lenormand yielded:

"Very well. I give you until to-morrow, but I warn you that, if you do not speak to-morrow, I shall be obliged to go to the examining-magistrate."

He rang and, taking Inspector Dieuzy aside, said:

"Go with him to his hotel ... and stay there... . I'll send you two men... . And mind you keep your eyes about you. Somebody may try to get hold of him."

The inspector went off with Steinweg; and M. Lenormand, returning to Mrs. Kesselbach, who had been violently affected by this scene, made his excuses.

"Pray accept all my regrets, madame... . I can understand how upset you must feel... ."

He questioned her as to the period at which Mr. Kesselbach renewed his relations with old Steinweg and as to the length of time for which those relations lasted. But she was so much worn-out that he did not insist.

"Am I to come back to-morrow?" she asked.

"No, it's not necessary. I will let you know all that Steinweg says. May I see you down to your carriage? These three flights are rather steep.

He opened the door and stood back to let her pass. At that moment shouts were heard in the passage and people came running up, inspectors on duty, office-messengers, clerks:

"Chief! Chief!"

"What's the matter?"

"Dieuzy! ..."

"But he's just left here... ."

"He's been found on the staircase... ."

"Not dead? ..."

"No, stunned, fainting... ."

"But the man ... the man who was with him ... old Steinweg?"

"He's disappeared... ."