of the victim, was shunted into a siding, and sentries were placed on it
at both ends. Seals had been affixed upon the entrance doors, so that
the interior might be kept inviolate until it could be visited and
examined by the Chef de la Sûreté, or Chief of the Detective Service.
Every one and everything awaited the arrival of this all-important
functionary.


CHAPTER II

M. Floçon, the Chief, was an early man, and he paid a first visit to his
office about 7 A.M.

He lived just round the corner in the Rue des Arcs, and had not far to
go to the Prefecture. But even now, soon after daylight, he was
correctly dressed, as became a responsible ministerial officer. He wore
a tight frock coat and an immaculate white tie; under his arm he carried
the regulation portfolio, or lawyer's bag, stuffed full of reports,
dispositions, and documents dealing with cases in hand. He was
altogether a very precise and natty little personage, quiet and
unpretending in demeanour, with a mild, thoughtful face in which two
small ferrety eyes blinked and twinkled behind gold-rimmed glasses. But
when things went wrong, when he had to deal with fools, or when scent
was keen, or the enemy near, he would become as fierce and eager as any
terrier.

He had just taken his place at his table and begun to arrange his
papers, which, being a man of method, he kept carefully sorted by lots
each in an old copy of the _Figaro_, when he was called to the
telephone. His services were greatly needed, as we know, at the Lyons