“This will serve as a receipt for everything!”
CHAPTER V
M. Mayeur, examining magistrate, was seated in his study, near the fireplace, whilst his clerk, in listless mood, was engaged in questioning one of the agents, charged with investigating the Vanves affair. M. Mayeur was terribly bored; he was accustomed to carry through sensational affairs, without giving himself much trouble. The results were obtained with regularity, and as though by enchantment. Chance seemed to favour him, and he was reputed to be the luckiest judge on the bench. He had become accustomed to his good fortune, so, when the Vanves affair had been placed in his hands, he gave a smile of satisfaction and confidence, whilst his clerk, rubbing together his hands, with a look of pity for the culprits, said—
“We shall not need to spend much time over this matter!”
And yet matters were dragging along slowly. For a whole week, M. Mayeur had multiplied his investigations, sent out detective after detective, summoned witnesses, and fulfilled judicial commissions. Nothing came of it all. As he expressed it, he was moving about in a thick fog, from which he could not escape. Every evening the Government agent sent for him, and asked in satirical accents—
“Well, Mayeur, where are we now?”
And the magistrate, accustomed as he was to success, found himself obliged to reply—
“Ah, sir, we are still on the look-out, but we have found nothing yet.”
“Ah, ah! The deuce! A week already flown since the crime was committed. Your chances are diminishing. In proportion as time passes, false tracks appear, and the scent becomes fainter. I expected a better result from you! As a rule, your inspiration is clearer.”
“But there is nothing whatever to take hold of—not the slightest clue in the cursed affair!”