"That's strange.".
"It is maddening. It would seem that from the instant the man fired those two shots in the woman's ward in Patel's department he vanished, unaccountably. Your notion of examining the hands of all those in the hospital was an excellent one, but nothing came of it.
"He must have known the snare we were preparing for him and did not turn up at the hospital exit, so we must naturally conclude he is still inside the gates, hidden in some remote corner, or underground. However, the first thing to do is to protect the girl, Josephine. By the by, she saw nothing, I suppose?"
"She declares she did not see Loupart come in, but she asserts with a sort of perverse pride that it was certainly Loupart who fired at her because he had threatened to do so."
A knock at the door was followed by the timid entrance of the doorkeeper.
"Is that you, Charles? Come in," cried the director. "What do you want?"
"It's about the signature, sir. There is blood on my book."
In a moment Juve leaped from his chair and tore the register out of the porter's hands.
"Blood!"
Feverishly he turned the pages until he came to the writing. Without waiting for de Maufil's permission, he dismissed the porter.