"But this night?"
"Ah, as I told you, the impressions were most satisfactory. I have the thief's hand—the whole of it! I will even go so far as to declare that the fellow who committed the crime has already been through my hands. I recognise that hand! You shall see, whether or no I have made a mistake!"...
Bertillon pressed a bell, and asked the official who answered it:
"Have you identified the imprints I sent you just now?"
"Yes, sir. This man has already been measured here. It is register 9200."
Bertillon turned to Fandor:
"You see, I was not mistaken! All I have to do is to turn up my alphabetical index, and for this very month, for the number is a recent one, and I shall know the name of the old offender—he must be one, as he is catalogued here—who has committed this assault."
Whilst speaking, Monsieur Bertillon was turning over the leaves of an enormous register:
"Ah! Here is the 9200 series!..."
Suddenly the book slipped from his hands, and he exclaimed: "The guilty man is ..."