alse, killed him,
after gaining possession of the box, and departed."

The Ambassador uttered a groan. "My God," he moaned, "I am lost!"

Dufrenne, who meanwhile had been making a careful examination of the
dead valet's body, rose with a mystified expression upon his face.
"There are no wounds upon the body at all, Monsieur Duvall," he said.
"How can you account for this man's death?"

Duvall stooped, and repeated the examination which his companion had
just made. "You are right," he said. "The case is a most mysterious
one."

"At least we can identify the murderer by the finger print upon the
seal," De Grissac remarked, eagerly.

"I'm afraid not. This man Seltz cannot be quite a fool. Look!" He held
up the forefinger of the dead man's right hand, upon which was a dull
red burn, with bits of the red sealing wax about the nail. "He wasn't
taking any chances." He let the already stiffening arm fall, and
continued his examination of the body. "The method by which the man was
killed," he remarked slowly, "is not yet clear to me. Certain finger
prints on the throat indicate that he might have been strangled, but
they are hardly deep or extensive enough for that. I fancy they would
have resulted in temporary unconsciousness only. No--there is another
reason--although what it is--" He paused as his eyes lit upon a thin
shining object on the floor beside the table. "Oh, this may tell us
something." He picked up the thing, which the others saw at once to be a
large scarf pin, and examined it carefully.

"Did this belong to your servant, Monsieur de Grissac," he asked,
holding the pin up to the light.

"Yes." The Ambassador glanced at the pin carelessly. "It was one of my
own that I had given him, some months ago."

Duvall laid the scarf pin carefully upon the table, then went to the
body on the floor, turned it over and made a careful examination of the
back of the neck. He held the candle close, pushing aside the man's thin
sandy hair. Presently he rose and placed the candle on the table beside
the pin. "This was what your servant was killed with, Monsieur de
Grissac," he said, as he indicated the scarf pin with his finger. "It
was thrust violently into the spine, at the base of the brain. Only a
tiny blood spot remains to tell the tale. This fellow Seltz is a shrewd
customer."

"We do not even know that it was he who committed the crime. There is no
real evidence against anyone. The snuff box may still be here. I in