"I have changed my mind, Dr. Roux, I shall tell you everything when we see Villebois. This last piece of villainy has decided me. The criminal must be brought to justice. But what a misfortune that I have lost all that precious fluid." "Well, never mind, old chap, Dr. Riche has quite enough left for us to test." "Do you really mean it? Thank God for that. Let us go at once, there is no time to lose ... as the proverb has it 'Il faut battre le fer quand il est chaud.'"[15] A few minutes later the two doctors might have been seen walking rapidly in the direction of Villebois's house. Half an hour later Roux and Paul were ushered into the library, where Villebois and Riche were awaiting their arrival. Villebois looked at least ten years older than he did a week ago. He was no longer the faultlessly attired active physician of yore, his dress was untidy and his face bore traces of sleepless nights and constant mental strain. "Ah, mon cher docteur," said Roux, "I am sorry to see you looking so depressed." "Thank you, I confess I don't feel myself at all. I am so worried over this affair. The more I think of it, the more terrible it becomes, until it swells up into a Frankenstein. To have a fire in one's house is bad enough, but to have a murdered friend lying in one's drawing-room day after day is too awful to contemplate. The cook spends all her time gossiping with the butcher and the baker, and every person who comes to the back door. I found the butler lying dead drunk in the pantry for the first time since he has been in my service. Céleste and Renée are worn out with watching the professor, and now I am worried to death with official visits from the Maire and the police. My house is watched by detectives, and all the neighbours hang about outside the garden peering in at the windows, and pointing at me with their fingers, and whispering to each other. I shall go mad if this affair goes on much longer. We must find some way out of it." "That's the very reason we have come, mon ami," said Roux; "but first let me ask you what the Commissaire de Police has done?" "Nothing as far as I know. He has telephoned up three times to know the reason why you have not sent in your report, and has placed two detectives here to watch the grounds." "Has he ordered any arrest to be made?" "How could he, when we could not inform him who the culprit was? We could not charge Pierre with the crime." "Why not?" asked Roux.