“Yes. On the day before yesterday, he did not leave his room. He was a little tired; and Charlotte took his lunch up to him at twelve and his dinner at seven in the evening.”
“So it was between seven o’clock in the evening, on the day before yesterday, and six o’clock on yesterday morning that he disappeared?”
“Yes, during the night before last. Only—”
“Only what?”
“Well, it’s like this: you can’t leave the arsenal at night.”
“Do you mean that he has not left it?”
“That’s impossible! My friends and I have searched the whole naval harbor.”
“Then he has left it!”
“Impossible, every outlet is guarded!”
Beautrelet reflected and then said: