beseech you, be so vulgarly illogical as to revolt from my conclusion. We

have now arrived,' he resumed, 'at some idea of the composition of the

gang--for I incline to the hypothesis of more than one--and we now leave

this room, which can disclose no more, and turn our attention to the

court and garden. (Jean-Marie, I trust you are observantly following my

various steps; this is an excellent piece of education for you.) Come

with me to the door. No steps on the court; it is unfortunate our court

should be paved. On what small matters hang the destiny of these

delicate investigations! Hey! What have we here? I have led on to the

very spot,' he said, standing grandly backward and indicating the green

gate. 'An escalade, as you can now see for yourselves, has taken place.'

Sure enough, the green paint was in several places scratched and broken;

and one of the panels preserved the print of a nailed shoe. The foot had

slipped, however, and it was difficult to estimate the size of the shoe,

and impossible to distinguish the pattern of the nails.

'The whole robbery,' concluded the Doctor, 'step by step, has been

reconstituted. Inductive science can no further go.'

'It is wonderful,' said his wife. 'You should indeed have been a

detective, Henri. I had no idea of your talents.'

'My dear,' replied Desprez, condescendingly, 'a man of scientific

imagination combines the lesser faculties; he is a detective just as he

is a publicist or a general; these are but local applications of his

special talent. But now,' he continued, 'would you have me go further?

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