would be that he
should disappear.... I went to Brocq's flat in the rue de Lille to
collect evidence from various sources. I have it all written down in
my case papers. One fact stands out clearly: Captain Brocq was
regularly visited by a woman whom we have not as yet been able to
identify beyond a doubt, but we shall soon know who she is. I am
certain she is a lady of fashion. She was his mistress: the
commencement of a letter written to her by the deceased shows this;
but, unfortunately, he has not addressed her by name. The letter was
begun, according to the experts, some hours before the drama of
assassination was enacted.... It is the mauve document, number 42. It
commences:

"'_My darling_'."...

Juve showed this sheet of mauve letter paper to his listeners. Colonel
Hofferman seemed to attach no importance whatever to it.

Juve continued:

"I should greatly value Colonel Hofferman's opinion regarding the
suppositions I am about to formulate. Well, gentlemen, here is what I
deduce from my investigations.... Captain Brocq was a simple, modest
fellow; a hard worker; reasonable, temperate, serious-minded officer:
a good middle-class citizen, in fact. If Captain Brocq had an
irregular love affair, it was assuredly with the best intentions;
Brocq, who perhaps had not been able to resist his senses, was too
straight a man to willingly entertain the idea of not regularising the
union later on. Is that your opinion, Colonel?"

Hofferman frankly replied:

"It is my opinion, Monsieur Juve. That was certainly Captain Brocq's
character. But I do not see what you are driving at."

"At this," replied the detective. "Captain Brocq's mistress must be
looked for, not among women of the lower orders, but among those of a
higher class, who are more outwardly correct, at any rate, more women
of the world. Among those with whom Brocq was on friendly terms, was
the family of an old diplomat of Austrian extraction, a Monsieur de
Naarboveck. This de Naarboveck has a daughter: she is twenty. This
Mademoiselle Wilhelmine was terribly distressed, and in a state of
profound grief, the day after Brocq's death. I am not going so far as
to pretend that Mademoiselle de Naarboveck was Brocq's mistress; but
one might easily think so."

"How do you know that Mademoiselle de Naarboveck showed grief at the
death of Captain Brocq?"

"Through a journalist who was received in the de Naarboveck family
circle the day after the drama."

"Oh,