MOUZON. No, no. [_A sigh to himself_] Damn the women! The very thing I didn't want. [_He takes his album again_] When I've got that Hayti specimen I shall need only three more to fill this page too. Yes. [_He closes the album_] Well, what's the post? Ah! Here is the information from Paris in respect of the woman Etchepare and her husband's judicial record. [_The doorkeeper enters with a visiting-card_] Who is coming to disturb me now? [_More agreeably, having read the name_] Ah! Ah! [_To the recorder_] I shall see him alone. RECORDER. Yes, your worship. [_He goes out_] MOUZON [_to the doorkeeper_] Show him in. [_He hides his album, picks up a brief, and affects to be reading it with the utmost attention_] SCENE II:--_Enter Mondoubleau._ MONDOUBLEAU [_speaking with a strong provincial accent_] I was passing the Law Courts, and I thought I'd look in and say how do. I am not disturbing you, I hope? MOUZON [_smiling and closing his brief_] My dear deputy, an examining magistrate, as you know, is always busy. But it gives one a rest--it does one good--to see a welcome caller once in a while. Sit down, I beg you. Yes, please! MONDOUBLEAU. I can stop only a minute. MOUZON. But that's unkind of you! MONDOUBLEAU. Well, what's the latest about the Irissary murder? MOUZON. So far there's nothing new. I've questioned the accused--an ugly-looking fellow and a poor defence. He simply denied everything and flew into a temper. I had to send him back to the cells without getting anything out of him. MONDOUBLEAU. Are you perfectly sure you've got the right man? MOUZON. Certain--no; but I should be greatly surprised if I were mistaken. MONDOUBLEAU. I saw Monsieur Delorme yesterday. He's a little better. MOUZON. So I hear. He thinks the murderer was a tramp. Now there, my dear sir, is one of the peculiarities to which we examining magistrates are subject. We always find it the very devil to abandon the first idea that pops into our minds. Personally I do my best to avoid what is really a professional failing. I am just going to examine Etchepare, and I am waiting for the results of a police inquiry. If all this gives me no result, I shall set the man at liberty and look elsewhere for the culprit--but I repeat, I firmly believe I am on the right scent. MONDOUBLEAU. Monsieur Delorme is a magistrate of long experience and a very shrewd one, and I will not deny that the reasons he has given me are-- MOUZON. I know my colleague is extremely intelligent. And, once more, I don't say that he's wrong. We shall see. At present I am only morally certain. I shall be materially certain when I know the antecedents of the accused and have established an obvious motive for his action. At the moment of your arrival I was about to open my mail. Here is a letter from the Court of Pau; it gives our man's judicial record. [_He takes a paper-knife in order to open the envelope_] MONDOUBLEAU. A curious paper-knife.