ergeant
turned on his heel and left the hall.

"Where is Mlle. Therese?" M. de Presles asked Dollon, who was standing
nervously apart.

"She is sleeping quietly just now, sir," said the steward, coming
forward. "The doctor is with her, and would rather she were not
disturbed, if you have no objection."

"Very well," said the magistrate. "Leave us, please," and Dollon also
went away.

Juve and M. de Presles looked at one another. The magistrate was the
first to break the silence.

"So it is finished?" he remarked. "So this Charles Rambert is the
culprit?"

Juve shook his head.

"Charles Rambert? Well, he ought to be the culprit."

"Why that reservation?" enquired the magistrate.

"I say 'ought to be,' for all the circumstances point to that
conclusion, and yet in my bones I don't believe he is."

"Surely the presumptions of his guilt, his pseudo-confession, or at
least his silence in face of his father's formal accusation, may make us
sure he is," said M. de Presles.

"There are some presumptions in favour of his innocence too," Juve
replied, but with a slight hesitation.

The magistrate pressed his point.

"Your investigations formally demonstrated the fact that the crime was
committed by some person who was inside the house."

"Possibly," said Juve, "but not certainly. The probabilities do not
allow us to assert it as a fact."

"Explain yourself."

"Not so fast, sir," Juve replied, and getting up he added: "There is
nothing for us to do here, sir; shall we go up to the room Charles
Rambert occupied?"

M. de Presles followed the detective, and the two men went into the
room, which was as plainly furnished as that of any young girl. The
magistrate installed himself comfortably in an easy chair and lighted a
cigar, while Juve walked up and down, scrutinising everything with
quick, sharp glances, and began to talk:

"I said 'not so fast' just now, sir, and I will tell you why: in my
opinion there are two preliminary points in this affair which it is
important to clear up: the nature of the crime, and the motive which can
have actuated the criminal. Let us take up these two points, and first
of all ask ourselves how the murder of the Marquise de Langrune ought to
be 'classified' in the technical sense. The first conclusion which must
be impressed upon the mind of any observant person who has visited the
scene of the crime and examined the corpse of the victim is, that this
murder must be placed in