14 Rue
d'Astorg."

CHAPTER TWO

A MAN DEAD

The declaration was followed by a silence of some length. The Secretary
of the American Embassy and the Peruvian attache had followed the
conversation with eager interest. Major d'Astrignac nodded his head with
an air of approval. To his mind, Perenna could not be mistaken.

The Prefect of Police confessed:

"Certainly, certainly ... we have a number of circumstances here ... that
are fairly ambiguous.... Those brown patches; that doctor.... It's a case
that wants looking into." And, questioning Don Luis Perenna as though in
spite of himself, he asked, "No doubt, in your opinion, there is a
possible connection between the murder ... and Mr. Mornington's will?"

"That, Monsieur le Prefet, I cannot tell. If there is, we should have to
suppose that the contents of the will were known. Do you think they can
have leaked out, Maitre Lepertuis?"

"I don't think so, for Mr. Mornington seemed to behave with great
caution."

"And there's no question, is there, of any indiscretion committed in
your office?"

"By whom? No one handled the will except myself; and I alone have the
key of the safe in which I put away documents of that importance
every evening."

"The safe has not been broken into? There has been no burglary at
your office?"

"No."

"You saw Cosmo Mornington in the morning?"

"Yes, on a Friday morning."

"What did you do with the will until the evening, until you locked it
away up your safe?"

"I probably put it in the drawer of my desk."

"And the drawer was not forced?"

Maitre Lepertuis seemed taken aback and made no reply.

"Well?" asked Perenna.

"Well, yes, I remember ... there was something that day ... that
same Friday."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. When I came in from lunch I noticed that the drawer was not locked,
although I had locked it beyond the least doubt. At the time I attached
comparatively little importance to the incident. To-day, I understand, I
understand--"

Thus, little by little, were all the suppositions conceived by Don Luis
verified: suppositions resting, it is true, upon just one or two clues,
but yet containing an amount of intuition, of divination, that was really
surprising in a man who had been present at none of the events between
which he traced the connection so skilfully.

"We will lose no time, Monsieur," said the Prefect of Police, "in
checking your statements, which you will confess to be a little
v