"That's good. Now for the crime itself. Go back to the desk and ring for a messenger. When he comes, send him here. Don't let anybody else come, and don't say a word to anybody about this affair." 

 Gaspard, with a very pale face, went back to his desk. 

 Nick remained alone with the beautiful dead. 

 

 CHAPTER II. 

 GASPARD SPOTS HIS MAN. 

 A revolver lay on the carpet just where it would have been if it had dropped from the woman's right hand. 

 Its position suggested the possibility of suicide, and there was, at the first glance, nothing to contradict that theory, except the conduct of Corbut and the man who had registered as John Jones. 

 It might be that the woman had committed suicide, and the men had fled for fear of being implicated in the affair. 

 Nick examined this side of the case at once. 

 The pistol had evidently been held only a few inches from the woman's head when it was fired. 

 Her white flesh showed the marks of the powder. 

 The bullet had passed straight through the head. 

 The revolver carried a long thirty-two cartridge. Three of the five chambers were loaded. 

 One of them contained an empty shell, on which the hammer rested. The fatal bullet had doubtless come from this chamber, for the shell had been recently discharged. 

 In the fifth chamber was an old shell, which had apparently been carried under the hammer for safety, as is quite common. 

 The woman had a purse containing about twenty dollars, but no cards or other things which might lead to identification. 

 Her ears had been pierced for earrings, but she seemed not to have worn them recently. She had no watch. 

 There was one plain gold ring on the third finger of her right hand, and there was a deep mark showing that she had worn another, but that ring was gone. 

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