M. Paul listened with increasing interest. "You have seen a hand with a little finger as long as this one?"
"Yes; it's as long as the third finger and square at the end. I've often noticed it."
"Then you have seen something very uncommon, mademoiselle, something I have never seen. That is the most remarkable hand in my collection; it is the hand of a man who lived nearly two hundred years ago. He was one of the greatest criminals the world has ever known."
"Really?" cried Alice, her eyes wide with sudden fright. "I—I must have been mistaken."
But now the detective's curiosity was aroused. "Would you mind telling me the name of the person—of course it's a man—who has this hand?"
"Yes," said Alice, "it's a man, but I should not like to give his name after what you have told me."
"He is a good man?"
"Oh, yes."
"A kind man?"
"Yes."