“This morning? What are you talking about?”
“The cap was bought this morning.”
“But that’s impossible, because it was found last night in the park. If it was found there, it must have been there; and, consequently, it must have been bought before.”
“The hatter told me it was bought this morning.”
There was a moment of general bewilderment. The nonplussed magistrate strove to understand. Suddenly, he started, as though struck with a gleam of light:
“Fetch the cabman who brought us here this morning! The man who drove the calash! Fetch him at once!”
The sergeant of gendarmes and his subordinate ran off to the stables. In a few minutes, the sergeant returned alone.
“Where’s the cabman?”
“He asked for food in the kitchen, ate his lunch and then—”
“And then—?”