When this farcical scene began, Servin had gone into his own office, and had given his secretary an order. The secretary had just returned. The lieutenant, having recorded the answer brought him, had just that moment returned to the commandant's office.
Lieutenant Servin looked upset.
"Commandant!" he gasped out.
He turned to our detective.
"Monsieur Juve!"
He continued staring first at one man, then at the other.
"An incredible thing has happened!... I have just heard of it!... I had given the order to have Corporal Vinson brought here immediately—the real Corporal Vinson—he whom Monsieur Juve arrested under the name of Butler: well, Commandant, it appears that on entering his cell they found him—dead!"
"What is that you say?" asked Dumoulin and Juve together.
"I say that he is dead," repeated the lieutenant.
"But how?" questioned Juve.