thoroughly what we were doing, for what we were searching. He knew
also that nowhere in Europe would he dare to attempt to sell a single
one of those jewels. We suspected that he would attempt to bring them
to this country, and we warned your department of customs. For we
knew that here he could sell all but the very largest not only almost
without danger, but at a price far greater than he could obtain for
them in Europe. We closed every avenue to him, as we thought--and
then, all at once, he disappeared.

"For two weeks we heard nothing--then came the story of this man
Drouet, killed by a stab on the hand. At once we recognised the work
of Crochard, for he alone of living men possesses the secret of the
poison of the Medici. It is a fearful secret, which, in his whole
life, he had used but once--and that upon a man who had betrayed
him."

M. Pigot paused and passed his hand across his forehead.

"We were at a loss to understand Crochard's connection with Drouet,"
M. Pigot continued. "Drouet, while a mere hanger-on of the cafés of
the boulevards, was not a criminal. Then came the death of that
creature Morel, in an effort to gain possession of this cabinet, and
we began to understand. We made inquiries concerning the cabinet; we
learned its history, and the secret of its construction, and we
arrived at a certain conclusion. It was to ascertain if that
conclusion is correct that I came to America."

"What is the conclusion?" queried Grady, who had listened to all this
with a manifest impatience in strong contrast to my own absorbed
interest.