is, at most, a clue given to
those who know the paths of the labyrinth.

Let us take this clue and proceed. I will guide you.

The fourth line first. The fourth line contains measurements and
indications. By complying with the indications and noting the
measurements set down, we inevitably attain our object, on condition,
be it understood, that we know where we are and whither we are going,
in a word, that we are enlightened as to the real meaning of the Hollow
Needle. This is what we may learn from the first three lines. The first
is so conceived to revenge myself on the King; I had warned him, for
that matter--

* * * * *

Beautrelet stopped, nonplussed.

"What? What is it?" said Massiban.

"The words don't make sense."

"No more they do," replied Massiban. "'The first is so conceived to
revenge myself on the King--' What can that mean?"

"Damn!" yelled Beautrelet.

"Well?"

"Torn! Two pages! The next two pages! Look at the marks!"

He trembled, shaking with rage and disappointment. Massiban bent
forward.

"It is true--there are the ends of two pages left, like bookbinders'
guards. The marks seem pretty fresh. They've not been cut, but torn
out--torn out with violence. Look, all the pages at the end of the book
have been rumpled."

"But who can have done it? Who?" moaned Isidore, wringing his hands. "A
servant? An accomplice?"

"All the same, it may date back to a few months since," observed
Massiban.

"Even so--even so--some one must have hunted out and taken the
book--Tell me, monsieur," cried Beautrelet, addressing the baron, "is
there no one whom you suspect?"

"We might ask my daughter."

"Yes--yes--that's it--perhaps she will know."

M. de Velines rang for the footman. A few minutes later, Mme. de
Villemon entered. She was a young woman, with a sad and resigned face.
Beautrelet at once asked her:

"You found this volume upstairs, madame, in the library?"

"Yes, in a parcel of books that had not been uncorded."

"And you read it?"

"Yes, last night."

"When you read it, were those two pages missing? Try and remember: the
two pages following this table of figures and dots?"

"No, certainly not," she said, greatly astonished. "There was no page
missing at all."

"Still, somebody has torn--"

"But the book did not leave my room last night."

"And this morning?"

"This morning, I brought it down here myself, when M. Massiban's
arrival was annou