s chair when I came in through the
passage from the church. I saw that he was startled, but he smiled at me
and reached out his hand to me and said: 'What brings you here, my dear
Cardillac?' And then I struck. I wanted him to die with that smile on
his lips. It is beautiful to see a man die smiling, it shows that he has
not been afraid of death. He was dead at once. I always kill that way--I
know just how to strike and where. I killed more than a hundred people
years ago in Paris, and I didn't leave one of them the time for even a
sigh. I was renowned for that--I had a kind heart and a sure hand."

Muller interrupted the dreadful imaginings of the madman with a
question. "You got into the house through the crypt?"

"Yes, through the crypt. I found the window one night when I was
prowling around in the churchyard. When I knew that the pastor was to be
the next, I cut through the window bars. Gyuri went into the church one
day when nobody was there and found out that it was easy to lift the
stone over the entrance to the crypt. He also learned that the doors
from the church to the vestry were never locked. I knew how to find the
passageway, because I had been through it several times on my visits to
the rectory. But it was a mere chance that the door into the pastor's
study was unlocked."

"A chance that cost the life of a worthy man," said the detective
gravely.

Varna nodded sadly. "But he didn't suffer, he was dead at once."

"And now tell me what this top was doing there?" No. 302 looked at the
detective in great surprise, and then laid his hand on the latter's arm.
"How did you know that I had the top there?" he asked with a show of
interest.

"I found its traces in the room, and it was those traces that led me
here to you," answered Muller.

"How strange!" remarked Varna. "Are you like shepherd Janci that you can
see the things others don't see?"

"No, I have not Janci's gift. It would be a great comfort to me and a
help to the others perhaps if I had. I can only see things after they
have happened."

"But you can see more than others--the others did not see the traces of
the top?"

"My business is to see more than others see," said Muller. "But you have
not told me yet what the top was doing there. Why did you take a toy
like that with you when you went out on such an errand?"

"It was in my pocket by chance. When I reached for my handkerchief to
quench the flow of blood the top came out with it. I m