22 
LAND & WATER 
DecemDer 21, igi6 
(Continued from page 20) 
a spectacle which was inhnitely more horrible than that of 
the evening before. 
On the floor, near the fireplace, almost at the place where 
he had undergone his torture, Essares Bey lay upon his 
back. He was wearing the same clothes as on the previous 
day : a brown-velvet smoking-suit with a braided jacket. 
His head and shoulders had been covered with a napkin. 
But one of the men standing around, a divisional surgeon no 
doubt, was holding up the napkin with one hand and pointing 
to the dead man's face with the other, while he offered an ex- 
planation in a low voice. 
* And that face . . . but it was hardly the word for the 
unspeakable «Tiass of flesh, part of which seemed to be charred 
while the other part formed no more than a bloodstained 
pulp, mixed with bits of bone and skin, hairs, and a broken 
eye-ball. 
" Oh," Patrice blurted out, " how horrible ! He was killed 
and fell with his head right in the fire. That's how they 
found him, I suppose ? " 
The man who had already spoken to him and who appeared 
to be the most important figure present came up to him once 
more : 
" May I ask who you are ? " he demanded. 
" Captain Belval, sir, a friend of Mme Essar^, one of the 
wounded officers whose lives she has helped to save . . ." 
" That may be, sir," replied the important figure, " but you 
can't stay here. Nobody must stay here, for that matter. 
Monsieur le commissaire, please order everyone to leave the 
room, except the doctor, and have the door guarded. Let no 
one enter on any pretext whatever . . ." 
"Sir," Patrice insisted, "1 have some very 'serious in- 
formation to communicate." 
" I shall be pleased to receive it, captain, but later on. 
You must excuse me now," 
CHAPTER VII 
Twenty-Three Minutes Past Twelve 
THE groat hall that ran from the Rue Raynouard to 
the upper terrace of the garden was fUled to half its 
extent by a wide staircase, and divided the Essares 
house into two parts communicating only by way of 
the hall. 
On the left were the di"awing-room and the library, which 
was followed by an independent block containing a private 
staircase. On the right were a billiard-room and tlie dining- 
room, both with lower ceilings. Above these were Essares 
Bey's bedroom, on the street side, and Coralie's, overlooking 
the garden. Beyond was the servants' wing, where Old 
Simeon also used to sleep. 
Patrice was asked to wait in the bilhard-room, with the 
Senegalese. He had been there about a quarter of an hour 
when Simt'on and the maid were shown in. 
The old secretary seemed quite paralysed by the death of 
his employer and was holding forth under his breath, making 
queer gestures as he spoke. Patrice asked him how things 
were going ; and the old fellow whispered in his ear : 
" It's not over yet. . . . There's something to fear. . 
to fear ! . . . To-day . . . presently. . 
" Presently .' " asked Patrice. 
" Yes . . . yes," said the old man, trembling. 
He said nothing more. As for the housemaid, she readily 
told her story in reply to Patrice's questions : 
" The first surprise, sir, this morning was that there was no 
butler, no footman, no porter. .Ml the three were gone. 
Then, at half-past six, M. Simeon came and told us from 
the master that he had locked him.self in his library 
and that he wasn't to be disturbed even for breakfast. The 
mistress was not very well. She had her chocolate at nine 
o'clock. ... At ten o'clock, she went out with M. 
Simt'on. Then, after we had done the bedrooms, we never 
left the kitchen. Eleven o'clock came, twelve . . . *vand, 
just as the hour was striking, we heard a loud ring at the front- 
door. I looked out of the window. There was a motor, with 
four gentlemen inside. I went to the door. The com- 
missary of police expained who he was and wanted to see the 
master. I showed them the way. The library-door was 
locked. We knocked : -no answer. We shook it : no answer. 
In the end, one of the gentlemen, who knew how, picked the 
lock. . . . Then . . . then . . . you can im- 
agine what we saw. . . But you can't, it was much worse, 
because the poor master at that moment had his head almost 
under the grate. . . . Oh, what scoundrels they must 
have been ! . . . For they did kill him. didn't they ? I 
know one of the gentltemen said at once that the master had 
died of a stroke and fallen into the fire. Only my firm belief 
IS. ... ■ 
Old Sim 'on had listened without speaking, witli his head 
still half wrapped up. shnwino; only his bristly grey beard and 
his eyes hidden behind their yellow spectacles. But at this 
point of the story he gave a little chuckle, came up to Patrice 
jjind said in his ear : 
" There's something to fear 
to fear ! 
Make her go away at once . . . 
. . If not, it'll be the worse f»r 
Mme. Coralie. . . 
make her go away, 
her. ..." 
Patrice shuddered and tried to question him, but could 
learn nothing more. Besides, the old man did not remain. 
A policeman came to fetch liim and took him to the library. 
His evidence lasted a long time. It was followed by the 
depositions of the cook and the housemaid. Next, Coralie's 
evidence was taken, in her own room. At four o'clock another 
car arrived. Patrice saw two gentlemen pass into the hall, 
with everybody bowing very low before them. He recognized 
the Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Interior. They 
conferred in the library for half an hour and went away again. 
At last, shortly before five o'clock, a policeman came foi 
Patrice and showed him up to the first floor. The man tapped 
at a door and stood aside. Patrice entered a small boudoir, 
lit up by a wood fire by which two persons were seated : 
Coralie to whom he bowed, and, opposite her, the gentleman 
who had spoken to him on his arrival and who seemed to be 
directing the whole enquiry. 
He was a man of about fifty, with a thickset boay and a 
heavy face, but with bright, intelligent eyes. 
" "The examining-magistrate, I presume, sir ? " j^sked 
Patrice. 
" No," he replied. " I am M. Masseron, a retired magis- 
trate, specially appointed to clear up this affair . . . not 
to examine it, as you think, for it does not seem to me that 
there is anything to examine." 
" \\Tiat ? " cried Patrice, in great surprise. " Nothing to 
examine ? " 
He looked at Coralie, who kept -her eyes fixed upon him. 
Then she turned them on M. Masseron, who resumed : 
" I have no doubt. Captain Belval, that, when we have said 
what we have to say, we shall be agreed at aJl points . . . 
just as madame and I are already agreed." 
" I don't doubt it either," said Patrice. " All the same, I 
am' afraid that many of those points remain unexplained." 
" Certainly, but we shall find an explanation, we shall find 
it together. Will you please tell me what you know 1 " 
Patrice waited for a moment and then said : 
" I will not disguise my astonishment, sir. The story 
which I have to tell is of some importance ; and yet there is 
no one here to take it down. Is it not to count as evidence 
given on oath, as a deposition which I shall have to sign ? " 
" You yourself. Captain, shall determine the value of your 
words and the innuendo which you wish them to bear. For 
the moment, we will look on this as a preliminary conver- 
sation, as an exchange of views relating to facts . . . 
touching which Mme. Essares has given me, I believe, the 
same information that j'ou will be able to give me." 
Patrice did not reply at once. He had a vague impression 
that there was a private understanding between Coralie and 
the magistrate. He resolved to mamtain an attitude of 
reserve until the magistrate had shown his hand. 
" Of course," he said, " I daresay madame has told you. 
So you know of the conversation which I overheard yesterday 
at the restaurant. 
" Yes." 
" And the, attempt to kidnap Mme. Essares } " 
" Yes." 
" And the murder ? . . ." 
" Yes." 
" Mme. Essares has described to you the blackmailing scene 
that took place last night, with M. Essares for a victim, the 
details of the torture, the death of the colonel, the handing 
over of the four millions, the conversation on the telephone 
between M. Essares and a certain Gregoire and, lastly, the 
threats uttered against madame by her husband ? " 
" Yes, Captain Belval, 1 know all this, that is to say, all 
that youj<now ; and I know, in addition, all that I discovered 
through my own investigations." 
" Of course, of course," Patrice repeated. " I see that my 
story becomes superfluous and that you are in possession of 
all the necessary factors to enable you to draw your con- 
clusions." And, co.itinuing to put rather than answer ques- 
tions, he added, '' May I ask what inference you have arrived 
at ? 
" To tell you the truth, captain, my inferences are not 
definite. However, until I receive some proof to the contrary, 
I propose to remain satisfied with the actual words of a letter 
which M. Essares wrote to his wife at about twelve o'clock 
this morning and which we found lying on his desk, unfinished. 
Mme. Essares asked me to read H and, if necessary, to com- 
municate the contents to you. Listen." 
M. Masseron proceeded to read the letter aloud. 
iTo be continued) 
