"Damn it!"

He rushed along the passage and down the stairs, where he found Dieuzy lying on the first-floor landing, surrounded by people who were attending to him.

He saw Gourel coming up again:

"Oh, Gourel, have you been downstairs? Did you come across anybody?"

"No, chief... ."

But Dieuzy was recovering consciousness and, almost before he had opened his eyes, mumbled:

"Here, on the landing, the little door... ."

"Oh, hang it, the door of Court 7!"[5] shouted the chief detective.

"Didn't I say that it was to be kept locked? ... It was certain that, sooner or later ..." He seized the door-handle. "Oh, of course! The door is bolted on the other side now!"

[Footnote 5: Since M. Lenormand left the detective service, two other criminals have escaped by the same door, after shaking off the officers in charge of them; the police kept both cases dark. Nevertheless, it would be very easy, if this communication is absolutely required, to remove the useless bolt on the other side of the door, which enables the fugitive to cut off all pursuit and to walk away quietly through the passage leading to Civil Court 7 and through the corridor of the Chief President's Court.]

The door was partly glazed. He smashed a pane with the butt-end of his revolver, drew the bolt and said to Gourel:

"Run through this way to the exit on the Place Dauphine... ."

He went back to Dieuzy:

"Come, Dieuzy, tell me about it. How did you come to let yourself be put into this state?"

"A blow in the pit of the stomach, chief... ."

"A blow? From that old chap? ... Why, he can hardly stand on his legs!

"Not the old man, chief, but another, who was walking up and down the passage while Steinweg was with you and who followed us as though he were going out, too... . When we got as far as this, he asked me for a light... . I looked for my matches ... Then he caught me a punch in the stomach... . I fell down, and, as I fell, I thought I saw him open that door and drag the old man with him... ."

"Would you know him again?"

"Oh yes, chief ... a powerful fellow, very dark-skinned ... a southerner of sorts, that's certain... ."

"Ribeira," snarled M. Lenormand. "Always Ribeira! ... Ribeira, _alias_ Parbury... . Oh, the impudence of the scoundrel! He was afraid of what old Steinweg might say ... and came to fetch him away under my very nose!" And, stamping his foot with anger, "But, dash it, how did he know that Steinweg was here, the blackguard! It's only four hours since I was chasing him in the Saint-Cucufa woods ... and now he's here! ... How did he know? ... One would think he lived inside my skin! ..."

He was seized with one of those fits of dreaming in which he seemed to hear nothing and see nothing. Mrs. Kesselbach, who passed at that moment, bowed without his replying.

But a sound of footsteps in the corridor roused him from his lethargy.

"At last, is that you, Gourel?"

"I've found out how it was, chief," said Gourel, panting for breath.

"There were two of them. They went this way and out of the Place Dauphine. There was a motor-car waiting for them. There were two people inside: one was a man dressed in black, with a soft hat pulled over his eyes ..."

"That's he," muttered M. Lenormand, "that's the murderer, the accomplice of Ribeira,--Parbury. And who was the other?"

"A woman, a woman without a hat, a servant-girl, it might be... . And good-looking, I'm told, with red hair."

"Eh, what! You say she had red hair?"

"Yes."

M. Lenormand turned round with a bound, ran down the stairs four steps at a time, hurried across the courtyard and came out on the Quai des Orfevres:

"Stop!" he shouted.

A victoria and pair was driving off. It was Mrs. Kesselbach's carriage.

The coachman heard and pulled up his horses. M. Lenormand sprang on the step:

"I beg a thousand pardons, madame, but I cannot do without your assistance. I will ask you to let me go with you... . But we must act swiftly... . Gourel, where's my taxi?"

"I've sent it away, chief."

"Well then, get another, quick!" ...

The men all ran in different directions. But ten minutes elapsed before one of them returned with a motor-cab. M. Lenormand was boiling with impatience. Mrs. Kesselbach, standing on the pavement, swayed from side to side, with her smelling-salts in her hand.

At last they were seated.

"Gourel, get up beside the driver and go straight to Garches."

"To my house?" asked Dolores, astounded.

He did not reply. He leant out of the window, waved his pass, explained who he was to the policeman regulating the traffic in the streets. At last, when they reached the Cours-la-Reine, he sat down again and said:

"I beseech you, madame, to give me plain answers to my questions. Did you see Mlle. Genevieve Ernemont just now, at about four o'clock?"

"Genevieve? ... Yes... . I was dressing to go out."

"Did she tell you of the advertisement about Steinweg in the _Journal_?"

"She did."

"And it was that which made you come to see me?"

"Yes."

"Were you alone during Mlle. Ernemont's visit?"

"Upon my word, I can't say... . Why?"

"Recollect. Was one of your servants present?"

"Probably ... as I was dressing... ."