The steward had just found M. Putoin, the examining magistrate, at the moment when he was mounting his horse to take his daily ride, for he posed as a good horseman to the great amusement of the officers. He alighted along with the captain, and passed the hands of the Mayor and the Doctor, casting a ferret-like glance on the linen vest which swelled above the body lying underneath. When he was thoroughly acquainted with the facts, he first gave orders to get rid of the public, whom the gendarmes drove out of the wood, but who soon reappeared in the meadow, and formed a hedge, a big hedge of excited and moving heads all along the Brindelle, on the other side of the stream. The doctor in his turn, gave explanations, of which Renardet took a note in his memorandum book. All the evidence was given, taken down, and commented on without leading to any discovery. Maxime, too, came back without having found any trace of the clothes. This disappearance surprised everybody; no one could explain it on the theory of theft, and as these rags were not worth twenty sous, even this theory was inadmissible. The examining magistrate, the mayor, the captain, and the doctor, set to work by searching in pairs, putting aside the smallest branches along the water. Renardet said to the judge: "How does it happen that this wretch has concealed or carried away the clothes, and has thus left the body exposed in the open air and visible to everyone?" The other, sly and knowing, answered: "Ha! Ha! Perhaps a dodge? This crime has been committed either by a brute or by a crafty blackguard. In any case we'll easily succeed in finding him." The rolling of a vehicle made them turn their heads round. It was the deputy magistrate, the doctor and the registrar of the court who had arrived in their turn. They resumed their searches, all chatting in an animated fashion. Renardet said suddenly: "Do you know that I am keeping you to lunch with me?" Everyone smilingly accepted the invitation, and the examining magistrate, finding that the case of little Louise Roque was quite enough to bother about for one day, turned towards the Mayor: "I can have the body brought to your house, can I not? You have a room in which you can keep it for me till this evening." The other got confused, and stammered: "Yes--no--no. To tell the truth, I prefer that it should not come into my house on account of--on account of my servants who are already talking about ghosts in--in my tower, in the Fox's tower. You know--I could no longer keep a single one. No--I prefer not to have it in my house." The magistrate began to smile: "Good! I am going to get it carried off at once to Roug, for the legal examination." Turning towards the door: "I can make use of your trap can I not?" "Yes, certainly." Everybody came back to the place where the corpse lay. La Roque now, seated beside her daughter, had caught hold of her head, and was staring right before her, with a wandering listless eye.