"That is probable," responded the commissioner, smiling. "You think it
was a butcher?"

"It seems probable."

"The knife?"

"He might have stolen it or found it."

"But the mode of operating?"

"That, it seems to me, is the point from where we should start."

Saniel could remain no longer, and he rose to leave.

"You have my address," he said; "but I must tell you, if you want me, I
leave to-morrow for Nice. But I shall be absent only just long enough to
go and return."

"If we want you, it will not be for several days. We shall not get on
very rapidly, we have so little to guide us."




CHAPTER XV

A NEW PLAN

Saniel walked home briskly. If, more than once during this interview,