"You doubtless recollect that when we were at Valfeuillu we found the hands of the clock in the bedroom stopped at twenty minutes past three. Distrusting foul play, I put the striking apparatus in motion--do you recall it? What happened? The clock struck eleven. That convinced us that the crime was committed before that hour. But don't you see that if Guespin was at the Vulcan's Forges at ten he could not have got back to Valfeuillu before midnight? Therefore it was not--he who did the deed." The detective, as he came to this conclusion, pulled out the inevitable box and helped himself to a lozenge, at the same time bestowing upon the judge a smile which said: "Get out of that, if you can." The judge's whole theory tumbled to pieces if M. Lecoq's deductions were right; but he could not admit that he had been so much deceived; he could not renounce an opinion formed by deliberate reflection. "I don't pretend that Guespin is the only criminal," said he. "He could only have been an accomplice; and that he was." "An accomplice? No, Judge, he was a victim. Ah, Tremorel is a great rascal! Don't you see now why he put forward the hands? At first I didn't perceive the object of advancing the time five hours; now it is clear. In order to implicate Guespin the crime must appear to have been committed after midnight, and--" He suddenly checked himself and stopped with open mouth and fixed eyes as a new idea crossed his mind. The judge, who was bending over his papers trying to find something to sustain his position, did not perceive this. "But then," said the latter, "how do you explain Guespin's refusal to speak and to give an account of where he spent the night?" M. Lecoq had now recovered from his emotion, and Dr. Gendron and M. Plantat, who were watching him with the deepest attention, saw a triumphant light in his eyes. Doubtless he had just found a solution of the problem which had been put to him. "I understand," replied he, "and can explain Guespin's obstinate silence. I should be perfectly amazed if he decided to speak just now." M. Domini misconstrued the meaning of this; he thought he saw in it a covert intention to banter him. "He has had a night to reflect upon it," he answered. "Is not twelve hours enough to mature a system of defence?" The detective shook his head doubtfully. "It is certain that he does not need it," said he. "Our prisoner doesn't trouble himself about a system of defence, that I'll swear to." "He keeps quiet, because he hasn't been able to get up a plausible story." "No, no; believe me, he isn't trying to get up one. In my opinion, Guespin is a victim; that is, I suspect Tremorel of having set an infamous trap for him, into which he has fallen, and in which he sees himself so completely caught that he thinks it useless to struggle. The poor wretch is convinced that the more he resists the more surely he will tighten the web that is woven around him." "I think so, too," said M. Plantat.