all that is necessary. It was the night after
the attempt with the bouquet, my dear little monsieur, my dear little
domovoi; it seemed to me I heard a noise on the ground-floor. I hurried
downstairs and saw nothing suspicious at first. Everything was shut
tight. I opened the door of Natacha's chamber softly. I wished to ask
her if she had heard anything. But she was so fast asleep that I had not
the heart to awaken her. I opened the door of the veranda, and all the
police--all, you understand--slept soundly. I took another turn around
the furniture, and, with my lantern in my hand, I was just going out
of the dining-room when I noticed that the carpet on the floor was
disarranged at one corner. I got down and my hand struck a great fold
of carpet near the general's sofa. You would have said that the sofa had
been rolled carelessly, trying to replace it in the position it usually
occupied. Prompted by a sinister presentiment, I pushed away the sofa
and I lifted the carpet. At first glance I saw nothing, but when I
examined things closer I saw that a strip of wood did not lie well with
the others on the floor. With a knife I was able to lift that strip and
I found that two nails which had fastened it to the beam below had been
freshly pulled out. It was just so I could raise the end of the board a
little without being able to slip my hand under. To lift it any more it
would be necessary to pull at least half-a-dozen nails. What could it
mean? Was I on the point of discovering some new terrible and mysterious
plan? I let the board fall back into place. I spread the carpet back
again carefully, put the sofa in its place, and in the morning sent for
Koupriane."

Rouletabille interrupted.

"You had not, madame, spoken to anyone of this discovery?"

"To no one."

"Not even to your step-daughter?"

"No," said the husky voice of Matrena, "not even to my step-daughter."

"Why?" demanded Rouletabille.

"Because," replied Matrena, after a moment's hesitation, "there were
already enough frightening things about the house. I would not have
spoken to my daughter any more than I would have said a word to the
general. Why add to the disquiet they already suffered so much, in case
nothing developed?"

"And what did Koupriane say?"

"We examined the floor together, secretly. Koupriane slipped his hand
under more easily than I had done, and ascertained that under the board,
that is to say between the beam and the ceiling of the