"And don't you think that every detective at one time or another has a
tendency toward crime, either as a thief or as an assassin?"

"That I cannot say."

* * * * *

What a day Juve had passed! Events had succeeded each other with such
startling rapidity that the detective, in spite of his robust physique,
began at length to feel the strain. As a matter of fact he had really
had no rest since his tragic awakening in the mortuary chapel at
Glotzbourg. He had passed the following night in the train without
closing an eye. Upon his arrival he had been busy without interruption
until he found himself, at ten o'clock at night, in his little apartment
in the Rue Bonaparte with the grotesque Wulf as companion. While the
latter was tranquilly reading the adventures of Vidocq, Juve was
absorbed in a strange task which occupied his entire attention.

He was minutely examining a queer-looking garment, a waistcoat of very
unusual cut. He turned to Wulf:

"Monsieur Wulf, you recognize this garment, don't you? There is no doubt
that it came from Jacob and Company, the Glotzbourg tailors?"

Wulf nodded.

"No doubt whatever. I've had too much experience in such matters to be
mistaken.... Besides, the initials J. G. are on the buttons."

"Yes, yes--Jacob of Glotzbourg."

Juve now examined the lining with a magnifying glass, muttering the
while:

"Ah, just as I expected!"

The pocket of the waistcoat had been distended by some large object
which had been forcibly introduced into it. The detective quickly took
some modeling clay and made it into certain dimensions carefully
measured, then with a stick he marked the surface of the ball into
facets, referring now and again to a book open before him. "Let's see,"
he exclaimed, "the Hesse-Weimar diamond is two-thirds of a hen's egg in
size, and weighs 295 carats, that is to say, larger than the Koh-i-noor,
the famous Indian diamond, one of the crown jewels of England."

He now introduced his model into the pocket and found that it fitted the
hole exactly.

"There! What do you say to that!" he cried.

"Why, you're very clever, Monsieur Juve," replied Wulf, "but I don't see
how that helps. Even if you prove that the King's diamond was kept for a
certain time in the pocket of that waistcoat, still you don't know to
whom the waistcoat belongs, and that's the most important point."

Juve, still engrossed in his examination, vouchsafed no reply, and