THE EXAMINATION

Saniel was there to observe, without having decided what he should do.  Instantly, with the decision that had “failed him so often during his vigil,” he resolved to go to Caffie’s.  Was he not a doctor, and the physician of the dead-man?  What could be more natural?

“A money-lender!” he exclaimed.  “Is it Monsieur Caffie?”

“Exactly.”

“But I am his doctor.”

“A doctor!  Here is a doctor!” cried several voices.

The crowd parted, and Saniel passed under the porte-cochere, where the concierge, half fainting, was seated on a chair, surrounded by all the maids of the house and several neighbors, to whom she related the news.

By using his elbows he was able to approach her.

“Who has said Monsieur Caffie is dead?” he asked with authority.

“No one has said he is dead; at least, I have not.”

“Well, then?”

“There is a stain of blood that has run from his office down to the landing; and as he is at home, since the light of his lamp is seen in the court, and he never leaves it burning when he goes to dinner, something must have happened.  And why are his curtains drawn?  He always leaves them open.”

At this moment two policemen appeared, preceded by a locksmith armed with a bunch of keys, and a little man with a shrewd, sharp appearance, wearing spectacles, and a hat from under which fell blond curls.  The commissioner of police probably.

“On which story?” he asked the concierge.

“On the first.”

“Come with us.”

He started to go upstairs, accompanied by the concierge, the locksmith, and one of the policemen; Saniel wished to follow them, but the other policeman barred the way.

“Pardon, Monsieur Commissioner,” Saniel said.

“What do you wish, sir?”

“I am Monsieur Caffie’s physician.”

“Your name?”

“Doctor Saniel.”

“Let the doctor pass,” the commissioner said, “but alone.  Make every one go out, and shut the porte-cochere.”

On reaching the landing the commissioner stopped to look at the brown stain which, running under the door, spread over the tiling, as Caffie never had had a mat.

“It is certainly a stain of blood,” Saniel said, who stopped to examine it and dipped his finger in it.

“Open the door,” the commissioner said to the locksmith.

The latter examined the lock, looked among his keys, selected one, and unlocked the door.

“Let no one enter,” the commissioner said.  “Doctor, have the goodness to follow me.”

And, going ahead, he entered the first office, that of the clerk, followed by Saniel.  Two little rills of blood, already thickened, starting from Caffie’s chair, and running across the tiled floor, which sloped a little toward the side of the staircase, joined in the stain which caused the discovery of the crime.  The commissioner and Saniel took care not to step in it.