MOUZON. So I hear. He thinks the murderer was a tramp. Now there, my dear sir, is one of the peculiarities to which we examining magistrates are subject. We always find it the very devil to abandon the first idea that pops into our minds. Personally I do my best to avoid what is really a professional failing. I am just going to examine Etchepare, and I am waiting for the results of a police inquiry. If all this gives me no result, I shall set the man at liberty and look elsewhere for the culprit--but I repeat, I firmly believe I am on the right scent.

MONDOUBLEAU. Monsieur Delorme is a magistrate of long experience and a very shrewd one, and I will not deny that the reasons he has given me are--

MOUZON. I know my colleague is extremely intelligent. And, once more, I don't say that he's wrong. We shall see. At present I am only morally certain. I shall be materially certain when I know the antecedents of the accused and have established an obvious motive for his action. At the moment of your arrival I was about to open my mail. Here is a letter from the Court of Pau; it gives our man's judicial record. [_He takes a paper-knife in order to open the envelope_]

MONDOUBLEAU. A curious paper-knife.

MOUZON. That? It's the blade of the knife that brought the pretty Toulouse woman to the guillotine at Bordeaux. Pretty weapon, eh? I had it made into a paper-knife. [_He opens the envelope_] There--there you are! Four times sentenced for a.s.saulting and wounding. You see--

MONDOUBLEAU. Really, really! Four times!

MOUZON. This is getting interesting. Besides this--I have neglected nothing--I have learned that his wife, Yanetta Etchepare--

MONDOUBLEAU. Is that the young woman I saw in the corridor just now?

MOUZON. I have called her as witness. I shall be hearing her directly.

MONDOUBLEAU. She looks a very respectable woman.

MOUZON. Possibly. But, as I was about to tell you, I have learned that she used to live in Paris--before her marriage--I have written asking for information. Here we are. [_He opens the envelope and smiles_] Aha!

Well, this young woman who looks so respectable was sentenced to one month's imprisonment for receiving stolen goods. Now we will hear the police lieutenant who is coming, very obligingly, to give me an account of the inquiry with which I intrusted him, and which he will put in writing this evening. I shall soon see--

MONDOUBLEAU. Do you suppose he will have anything new for you?

MOUZON. Does this interest you? I will see him in your presence. [_He goes to the door and makes a sign. He returns to his chair_] Understand, I a.s.sert nothing. It is quite possible that my colleague's judgment has been more correct than mine. [_The officer enters_]

SCENE III:--_The same and the officer._

OFFICER. Good-morning, Monsieur.

MOUZON. Good-morning, lieutenant. You can speak before this gentleman.

OFFICER [_saluting_] Our deputy--

MOUZON. Well?

OFFICER. Yes! He's the man!

MOUZON [_after a glance at Mondoubleau_] Don't let's go too fast. On what grounds do you make that a.s.sertion?

OFFICER. You will see. In the first place there have been four convictions already.

MOUZON. I know.

OFFICER. Then fifteen years ago he bought, from Daddy Goyetche, the victim, a vineyard, the payment taking the form of a life annuity.

MOUZON. Well!

OFFICER. He professed to have made a very bad bargain, and he used to abuse old Goyetche as a swindler.

MOUZON. Excellent!

OFFICER. Five years ago he sold this vineyard.

MOUZON. So that for five years he has been paying an annuity to the victim, although the vineyard was no longer his property.

OFFICER. Yes, your worship.

MOUZON. Go on.

OFFICER. After his arrest people's tongues were loosened. His neighbors have been talking.

MOUZON. That's always the way.

OFFICER. I have heard a witness, the girl Gracieuse Mendione, to whom Etchepare used the words, "It is really too stupid to be forced to pay money to that old swine."

MOUZON. Wait a moment. You say the girl Gracieuse?

OFFICER. Mendione.

MOUZON [_writing_] Mendione--"It is really too stupid to be forced to pay money to that old swine." Good! Good! Well?

OFFICER. I have another witness, Piarrech Artola.

MOUZON [_writing_] Piarrech Artola.

OFFICER. Etchepare told him, about two months ago, in speaking of old Goyetche, "It's more than one can stand--the Almighty's forgotten him."

MOUZON [_writing_] "The Almighty has forgotten him." Excellent. Is this all you can tell me?

OFFICER. Almost all.

MOUZON. At what date should Etchepare have made the next annual payment to old Goyetche?

OFFICER. A week after Ascension Day.

MOUZON. That is a week after the crime?

OFFICER. Yes, your worship.

MOUZON [_to Mondoubleau_] Singular coincidence! [_To the officer_] Was he comfortably off, this Etchepare?

OFFICER. He was pressed for money. Three months ago he borrowed eight hundred francs from a Mauleon cattle-dealer.

MOUZON. And what do the neighbors say?

OFFICER. They say Etchepare was a sly grasping fellow, and they aren't surprised to hear that he's the murderer. All the same, they all speak very highly of the woman Yanetta Etchepare. They say she is a model mother and housekeeper.