e
shaking as he carefully spread out upon the desk one of the ordnance
maps he had taken from the case.

"It's the map of the centre district all right: the map which shows
Cahors, and Brives, and Saint-Jaury and--Beaulieu! And the missing
piece--it is the missing piece that would give that precise district!"

Juve stared at the map with hypnotised gaze; for a piece had been cut
out of it, cut out with a penknife neatly and carefully, and that piece
must have shown the exact district where the chateau stood which had
been occupied by the Marquise de Langrune.

"Oh, if I could only prove it: prove that the piece missing from this
map, this map belonging to Gurn, is really and truly the piece I found
near Verrieres Station just after the murder of the Marquise de
Langrune--what a triumph that would be! What a damning proof! What
astounding consequences this discovery of mine might have!"

Juve made a careful note of the number of the map, quickly and
nervously, folded it up again, and prepared to leave the flat.

He had made but a step or two towards the door when a sharp ring at the
bell made him jump.

"The deuce!" he exclaimed softly; "who can be coming to ring Gurn up
when everybody in Paris knows he has been arrested?" and he felt
mechanically in his pocket to make sure that his revolver was there.
Then he smiled. "What a fool I am! Of course it is only Mme. Doulenques,
wondering why I am staying here so long."

He strode to the door, flung it wide open, and then recoiled in
astonishment.

"You?" he exclaimed, surveying the caller from top to toe. "You? Charles
Rambert! Or, I should say, Jerome Fandor! Now what the deuce does this
mean?"

XXIII. THE WRECK OF THE "LANCASTER"

Jerome Fandor entered the room without a word. Juve closed the door
behind him. The boy was very pale and manifestly much upset.

"What is the matter?" said Juve.

"Something terrible has happened," the boy answered. "I have just heard
awful news: my poor father is dead!"

"What?" Juve exclaimed sharply. "M. Etienne Rambert dead?"

Jerome Fandor put a newspaper into the detective's hand. "Read that," he
said, and pointed to an article on the front page with a huge head-line:
"_Wreck of the 'Lancaster': 150 Lives Lost._" There were tears in his
eyes, and he had such obvious difficulty in restraining his grief, that
Juve saw that to read the article would be the speediest way to find out
what had occurred.

The Red Star