cheerfully eat anything we've missed--won't we, inspector?" And he
laughed heartily at his joke.

"It might always prove a large mouthful," said the Duke with an
ironical smile.

M. Formery assumed his air of profound reflection, and walked a few
steps up and down the room, frowning:

"The more I think about it," he said, "the clearer it grows that we
have disposed of the Lupin theory. This is the work of far less
expert rogues than Lupin. What do you think, inspector?"

"Yes; I think you have disposed of that theory, sir," said the
inspector with ready acquiescence.

"All the same, I'd wager anything that we haven't disposed of it to
the satisfaction of Guerchard," said M. Formery.

"Then he must be very hard to satisfy," said the Duke.

"Oh, in any other matter he's open to reason," said M. Formery; "but
Lupin is his fixed idea; it's an obsession--almost a mania."

"But yet he never catches him," said the Duke.

"No; and he never will. His very obsession by Lupin hampers him. It
cramps his mind and hinders its working," said M. Formery.

He resumed his meditative pacing, stopped again, and said: