Presently he ceased his work and sat thinking, with his attention fixed
on a spot on his desk.

He lifted a little stamp-box and examined it. Next, he verified the
position of different articles which Prasville had touched and replaced;
and he searched them with his eyes, felt them with his hands, bending
over them as though certain signs, known to himself alone, were able to
tell him what he wished to know.

Lastly, he grasped the knob on an electric bell-push and rang. The
portress appeared a minute later.

He asked:

"They've been, haven't they?"

And, when the woman hesitated about replying, he insisted:

"Come, come, Clemence, did you open this stampbox?"

"No, sir."

"Well, I fastened the lid down with a little strip of gummed paper. The
strip has been broken."

"But I assure you,..." the woman began.

"Why tell lies," he said, "considering that I myself instructed you to
lend yourself to those visits?"