In the house he went around wrapped in a faded coat, with a Greek
bonnet and cloth slippers. When he went out he donned a long frock
coat and a very tall silk hat; only on certain summer days would he
wear a Havana hat of woven straw.

For more than a month Don Telmo was the topic of conversation in the
boarding-house.

In the famous trial of the Malasana Street crime a servant declared
that one afternoon she saw Dona Celsa's son in an aqueduct of the
Plaza de Oriente, talking with a lame old man. For the guests this man
could be none other than Don Telmo. With this suspicion they set about
spying upon the old man; he, however, had a sharp scent and sniffed
the state of affairs at once; the boarders, seeing how bootless their
attempts were proving, tried to ransack his room; they used a number
of keys until they got the door open and when they had forced an
entrance, discovered nothing more that a closet fastened by a
formidable safety-lock.

The Biscayan and Roberto, the blond student, opposed this campaign of
espionage. The Superman, the priest, the salesmen and the women of the
establishment made up that the Biscayan and the student were allies of
Don Telmo, and, in all probability, accomplices in the Malasana Street
crime.

"Without a doubt," averred the Superman, "Don Telmo killed Dona Celsa
Nebot; the Biscayan poured oil over the body and set it afire, and
Roberto hid the jewels in the house on Amaniel Street."