race of Theodore.

Had he indeed been murdered? The thought now had taken root in my
mind. For the moment I had even forgotten Carissimo and my vanished
five thousand francs.

Well, Sir! Aristide Nicolet was marched off to the depot--still
protesting his innocence. The next day he was confronted with Mme. la
Comtesse de Nole, who could not say more than that he might have
formed part of the gang who had jostled her on the Quai Voltaire,
whilst the servant who had taken the missive from him failed to
recognize him.

Carissimo was restored to the arms of his loving mistress, but the
reward for his recovery had to be shared between the police and
myself: three thousand francs going to the police who apprehended the
thief, and two thousand to me who had put them on the track.

It was not a fortune, Sir, but I had to be satisfied. But in the
meanwhile the disappearance of Theodore had remained an unfathomable
mystery. No amount of questionings and cross-questionings, no amount
of confrontations and perquisitions, had brought any new matter to
light. Aristide Nicolet persisted in his statements, as did the
proprietress and the concierge of the Hotel des Cadets in theirs.
Theodore had undoubtedly occupied room No. 25 in the hotel during the
three days while I was racking my brain as to what had become of him.
I equally undoubtedly saw him for a few moments running up the Rue
Beaune with Carissimo's tail projecting beneath his coat. Then he
entered the open doorway of the hotel, and henceforth his whereabouts
remained a baffling mystery.

Beyond his coat and hat, the stained rag and the dog himself, there
was not the faintest indication of what became of him after that. The
concierge vowed that he did not enter the hotel--Aristide Nicolet
vowed that he did not enter No. 25. But then the dog was in the
cupboard, and so were the hat and coat; and even the police were bound
to admit that in the short space of time between my last glimpse of
Theodore and the gendarme's entry into room 25 it would be impossible
for the most experienced criminal on earth to murder a man, conceal
every trace of the crime, and so to dispose of the body as to baffle
the most minute inquiry and the most exhaustive search.

Sometimes when I thought the whole matter out I felt that I was
growing crazy.

5.

Thus about a week or ten days went by and I had just come reluctantly
to the conclusion that there must be some truth in the old mediaev