sent an intelligent man." At this moment
the door opened, and the policeman referred to by the judge
appeared on the threshold. He was a muscular man about forty years
old, with a military pose, a heavy mustache, and thick brows,
meeting over the nose. He had a sly rather than a shrewd expression,
so that his appearance alone seemed to awake all sorts of suspicions
and put one instinctively on his guard.

"Good news!" said he in a big voice: "I didn't make the journey to
Paris for the King of Prussia; we are right on the track of this
rogue of a Guespin."

M. Domini encouraged him with an approving gesture.

"See here, Goulard," said he, "let us go on in order if we can. You
went then, according to my instructions, to the Vulcan's Forges?"

"At once, Monsieur."

"Precisely. Had they seen the prisoner there?"

"Yes; on the evening of Wednesday, July 8th."

"At what hour?"

"About ten o'clock, a few minutes before they shut up; so that he
was remarked, and the more distinctly observed."

The judge moved his lips as if to make an objection, but was stopped
by a gesture from M. Lecoq.

"And who recognized the photograph?"

"Three of the clerks. Guespin's manner first attracted their
attention. It was strange, so they said, and they thought he was
drunk, or at least tipsy. Then their recollection was fixed by his
talking very fast, saying that he was going to patronize them a
great deal, and that if they would make a reduction in their prices
he would procure for them the custom of an establishment whose
confidence he possessed, the Gentil Jardinier, which bought a great
many gardening tools."

M. Domini interrupted the examination to consult some papers which
lay before him on his desk. It was, he found, the Gentil Jardinier
which had procured Guespin his place in Tremorel's household. The
judge remarked this aloud, and added:

"The question of identity seems to be settled. Guespin was
undoubtedly at the Vulcan's Forges on Wednesday night."

"So much the better for him," M. Lecoq could not help muttering.

The judge heard him, but though the remark seemed singular to him
he did not notice it, and went on questioning the agent.

"Well, did they tell you what Guespin went there to obtain?"

"The clerks recollected it perfectly. He first bought a hammer,
a cold chisel, and a file."

"I knew it," exclaimed the judge. "And then?"

"Then--"

Here the man, ambitious to make a sensation among his hearers,