Then looking right and left, he continued: "Oh! oh! the poor devil was
busy with her cooking when he struck her; see her pan of ham and eggs
upon the hearth. The brute hadn't patience enough to wait for the
dinner. The gentleman was in a hurry, he struck the blow fasting;
therefore he can't invoke the gayety of dessert in his defense!"

"It is evident," said the commissary to the investigating magistrate,
"that robbery was the motive of the crime."

"It is probable," answered Gevrol in a sly way; "and that accounts for
the absence of the silver spoons from the table."

"Look here! Some pieces of gold in this drawer!" exclaimed Lecoq, who
had been searching on his own account, "just three hundred and twenty
francs!"

"Well, I never!" cried Gevrol, a little disconcerted. But he soon
recovered from his embarrassment, and added: "He must have forgotten
them; that often happens. I have known an assassin, who, after
accomplishing the murder, became so utterly bewildered as to depart
without remembering to take the plunder, for which he had committed the
crime. Our man became excited perhaps, or was interrupted. Some one may
have knocked at the door. What makes me more willing to think so is,
that the scamp did not leave the candle burning. You see he took the
trouble to put it out."

"Pooh!" said Lecoq. "That proves nothing. He is probably an economical
and careful man."

The investigations of the two agents were continued all over the house;