"No, there were only three then. It is since the affair of the
bouquet that there have been ten."

"It hardly matters. It is since these ten that you have had ..."

"What?" she demanded anxiously.

"You know well - the flooring."

"Sh-h-h."

She glanced at the door, watching the policeman statuesque before
the setting sun.

"No one knows that - not even my husband."

"So M. Koupriane told me. Then it is you who have arranged for
these ten police-agents?"

"Certainly."

"Well, we will commence now by sending all these police away."

Matrena Petrovna grasped his hand, astounded.

"Surely you don't think of doing such a thing as that!"

"Yes. We must know where the blow is coming from. You have four
different groups of people around here - the police, the domestics,