"For the last time I shall be obliged if you will postpone your explanation," said the little man with an air of official importance, and he looked him up and down through his spectacles, until poor Riche felt half convinced that he himself must in some way or other have committed the crime. "But, monsieur," interposed Villebois, "my friend, Dr. Riche, saw----" "Pardon me, but I must request you to stop talking," he replied, becoming at length really angry; "you are here to answer questions and not to speak to me." Villebois, somewhat nettled at being addressed in this style, was about to remonstrate, but the fierce glance of the commissaire took his breath away, and he stammered out something incoherently, and finally collapsed utterly cowed. "Now I must request you all to be good enough to retire immediately into the next room, and not to move until I call you," said Monsieur Biron as he ordered the guests off with a majestic wave of the hand, "and you, Dr. Villebois, will remain here with me." "Are you acquainted with the deceased?" he enquired of Villebois as soon as they were alone. "He has been my guest for three months now, and is my most intimate friend." "And his name?" "Professor Henri Delapine." "What!" he exclaimed, "Professor Delapine, the renowned professor at the Sorbonne?" "The same." "Mon Dieu! he was one of the most amiable men I ever had the good fortune to meet. What reason could anyone have to seek his death? But that we can go into later. How long has he been dead?" "I cannot say. All that I know is that he was alive and well a little more than half an hour ago." "Half an hour ago," said Monsieur Biron, astonished; "but what could have killed him?" "That is what I want to know." "This is a most extraordinary affair. Let us examine his body at once." Villebois and the commissaire proceeded carefully to strip him, scrutinising each garment as they removed it with the utmost care. "I see no marks of violence," said Biron as he examined the corpse from head to foot. "What makes you think that he has been killed? Can it not be a simple case of heart failure?" and the commissaire gave him a searching look. "That is possible," replied Villebois, "but apparently not from natural causes." "Then you mean to say that he really has been murdered?" "I am sure of it." "Be careful what you say, doctor. It is a very terrible statement to make, and you will have to be confronted with the Juge d'Instruction, who will compel you to prove it or suffer the consequences." Dr. Villebois looked very frightened at the severe glances of Monsieur Biron, and twisted his fingers together nervously. "I have every reason to suspect it," he said in a tone of apology. "Have you examined his arms, monsieur?" The commissaire looked at Villebois to see if he were joking with him, and being convinced of his earnestness, he took up each arm in turn and examined them with great care on all sides.