"Well, they are in a nice fix; but how did you manage to escape after that little affair with Markby and the peasant?'"
"Crawled into a bush as near as possible to the scene of the fight."
"Ah!"
"If I had gone half a mile away, the police would no doubt have found me, but the thick-headed rascals never thought of looking only half a dozen yards off. Ha, ha, ha!"
The detective smiled grimly.
"They are thick-headed rascals."
And after a pause occupied in listening to sounds in the street, he repeated—
"And the English prisoners are entirely innocent then?"
"Entirely."
"Now listen to me, Pierre Lenoir," continued the detective, rapping the table smartly as though to command attention. "But what a curious echo you have in this old room."