s of Elizabeth,
who is returning shortly: perhaps she will be here to receive you
with me._

_I am your respectful and devoted_
_Jacques Dollon._

The magistrate was frowning as he handed back the letter to his
secretary, saying: 'Keep it carefully.' Then he went into the bedroom,
where the doctor was talking to the invalid. The doctor turned to
Monsieur Agram:

'Monsieur Dollon has just asked me who you are: I did not think I ought
to hide from him that you are a superintendent of police, monsieur.'

'Ah!' cried Jacques Dollon. 'Can you help me to discover what happened
to me last night?'

'You have just told us yourself, monsieur,' replied the
magistrate.... 'But have you nothing further to tell us? Can you not
recollect whether or no you had a visitor before the arrival of the
men who attacked you?'

'Why, no, monsieur, no one called.'

The doctor here intervened:

'The pain in the leg, Monsieur Dollon complained of, need not cause any
anxiety. It is a very slight superficial wound. A slight swelling above
the broken skin possibly indicates an intra-muscular puncture, which
might have been made by someone unaccustomed to such operations, for it
is a clumsy performance. It is a queer business!...'

Monsieur Agram, who had been steadily observing Jacques Dollon,
persisted:

'Is there not a gap, monsieur, in your recollections of what
occurred?... Were you quite alone yesterday evening? Were you not
expecting anyone?... Are you certain that you did not have a visitor?
Did not someone pay you a visit--someone you had asked to come and see
you?'

Jacques Dollon opened his eyes--eyes of stupefaction--and stared at the
superintendent:

'No, monsieur.'

'It is that----' went on Monsieur Agram. Then stopping short, and
drawing the doctor aside, he asked:

'Do you consider him in a fit state to bear a severe moral shock?... A
confrontation?'

The doctor glanced at his patient:

'He appears to me to be quite himself again: you can act as you see fit,
monsieur.'

Jacques Dollon, astonished at this confabulation, and vaguely uneasy,
was, in fact, able to get up without help.

'Be good enough to go into your studio, monsieur,' said the magistrate.

Jacques Dollon complied without a word. No sooner did he cross the
threshold than he recoiled, terror-struck.

He was shaking from head to foot; his lips were quivering; every feature
expressed horrified shrinking from the spectacle conf