rub himself down; for, in spite of his strong constitution, he felt
chilled to the bone. On retiring to bed, he emptied the contents of his
pockets, as usual, on the mantelpiece. It was not till then that he
noticed, near his pocketbook and his keys, the object which Gilbert had
put into his hand at the last moment.

And he was very much surprised. It was a decanter-stopper, a little
crystal stopper, like those used for the bottles in a liqueur-stand.
And this crystal stopper had nothing particular about it. The most that
Lupin observed was that the knob, with its many facets, was gilded right
down to the indent. But, to tell the truth, this detail did not seem to
him of a nature to attract special notice.

"And it was this bit of glass to which Gilbert and Vaucheray attached
such stubborn importance!" he said to himself. "It was for this that
they killed the valet, fought each other, wasted their time, risked
prison... trial... the scaffold!..."

Too tired to linger further upon this matter, exciting though it appeared
to him, he replaced the stopper on the chimney-piece and got into bed.

He had bad dreams. Gilbert and Vaucheray were kneeling on the flags of
their cells, wildly stretching out their hands to him and yelling with
fright:

"Help!... Help!" they cried.

But, notwithstanding all his efforts, he was unable to move. He himself
was fastened by invisible bonds. And, trembling, obsessed by a monstrous
vision, he watched the dismal preparations, the cutting of the condemned