No one protested now. The tragedy was being reconstructed before their eyes with a realism and a probable accuracy which were equally striking. "And the third victim?" asked Valenglay. "He himself gave the ruffian his opportunity. When Beudot did not return, Chapman, curious to see the cigarette-case for himself, went upstairs with the manager of the hotel. He was surprised by the murderer, dragged away by him, taken to one of the bedrooms and murdered in his turn." "But why did he allow himself to be dragged away like that and to be led by a man whom he knew to be the murderer of Mr. Kesselbach and of Gustave Beudot?" "I don't know, any more than I know the room in which the crime was committed, or the really miraculous way in which the criminal escaped." "Something has been said about two blue labels." "Yes, one was found on the box which Lupin sent back; and the other was found by me and doubtless came from the morocco note-case stolen by the murderer." "Well?" "I don't think that they mean anything. What does mean something is the number 813, which Mr. Kesselbach wrote on each of them. His handwriting has been recognized." "And that number 813?" "It's a mystery." "Then?" "I can only reply again that I don't know." "Have you no suspicions?" "None at all. Two of my men are occupying one of the rooms in the Palace Hotel, on the floor where Chapman's body was found. I have had all the people in the hotel watched by these two men. The criminal is not one of those who have left." "Did no one telephone while the murders were being committed?" "Yes, some one telephoned from the outside to Major Parbury, one of the four persons who occupied rooms on the first-floor passage." "And this Major Parbury?" "I am having him watched by my men. So far, nothing has been discovered against him." "And in which direction do you intend to seek?" "Oh, in a very limited direction. In my opinion, the murderer must be numbered among the friends or connections of Mr. and Mrs. Kesselbach. He followed their scent, knew their habits, the reason of Mr. Kesselbach's presence in Paris; and he at least suspected the importance of Mr. Kesselbach's plans." "Then he was not a professional criminal?"