‘Junior partner in the firm of Le Gautier, Fils, wine merchants, in the rue Henri Quatre.’ ‘And M. Dumarchez?’ ‘A stockbroker.’ ‘Can you give me his address?’ ‘I don’t know his home address. His office is, I think, in the Boulevard Poissonière. But I could get you the address from M. Le Gautier.’ ‘Please give me an account of your relations with these gentlemen.’ ‘Well, I have known them both for years and we are good friends, but I cannot recall ever having had any money transactions with either until this matter of the lottery.’ ‘The details of that mentioned in the letter are correct?’ ‘Oh, perfectly.’ ‘Can you remember where precisely the conversation about the lottery took place?’ ‘It was in the ground floor room of the café, at the window to the right of the entrance, looking inwards.’ ‘You say other gentlemen were present?’ ‘Yes, a group of us were there and the conversation was general.’ ‘Was your arrangement to enter the lottery heard by the group?’ ‘Yes, we had quite a lot of good-natured chaff about it.’ ‘And can you remember who were present?’ Mr. Felix hesitated. ‘I’m not sure that I can,’ he said at last. ‘The group was quite a casual one and I only joined it for a few moments. Le Gautier was there, of course, and a man called Daubigny, and Henri Boisson, and I think, Jaques Rôget, but of him I’m not sure. There were a number of others also.’ Felix answered the questions readily and the Inspector noted his replies. He felt inclined to believe the lottery business was genuine. At all events inquiries in Paris would speedily establish the point. But even if it was all true, that did not prove that Le Gautier had written the letter. A number of people had heard the conversation, and any one could have written it, even Felix himself. Ah, that was an idea! Could Felix be the writer? Was there any way of finding that out? The Inspector considered and then spoke again. ‘Have you the envelope this letter came in?’ ‘Eh?’ said Felix, ‘the envelope? Why, no, I’m sure I haven’t. I never keep them.’ ‘Or the card?’ Felix turned over the papers on his desk and rummaged in the drawers. ‘No,’ he answered, ‘I can’t find it. I must have destroyed it, too.’ There was then no proof that these communications had been received by Felix. On the other hand there was no reason to doubt it. The Inspector kept an open mind as he turned again to the letter.