"But the rogue whose arrest you promised us? The six minutes are more than past."
"Here? I don't understand. No one has entered the room!"
"I beg your pardon."
"Oh, I say. . . . Look here, Lenormand, you're making fun of us. I tell you again that no one has entered the room."
"There were six of us in this room, Monsieur le Président; there are seven now. Consequently, some one has entered the room."
Valenglay started:
"Eh! But this is madness! . . . What! You mean to say . . ."
The two detectives had slipped between the messenger and the door. M. Lenormand walked up to the messenger, clapped his hand on his shoulder and, in a loud voice:
"In the name of the law, Auguste Maximin Philippe Daileron, chief messenger at the Ministry of the Interior, I arrest you."