"I will go forward four paces. I am now in the middle of the landing; I lift the curtain, turn and go in."
The steady tick of the little Empire clock on the mantelpiece assured Juve that he was indeed in the study.
"Well, here I am," and mechanically he flung his hat on the sofa. But scarcely had he uttered these words when Fandor's voice, very clear, but some way off answered
"I am in the study, too."
Juve now switched on the light. Fandor was not there. Rushing back to the landing he ran full tilt into his friend and the two gripped each other in amazement.
"Look here," exclaimed Fandor, "if I'm not mistaken, you turned to the right past the curtain while I went to the left; there may be two separate entrances to the study."
"Let us keep together this time," replied Juve; "I propose to get to the bottom of this mystery."
As they came out of the darkness of the passage and plunged into the full light of the room, Juve stopped short. His hat was no longer on the sofa.
Fandor went to the mantelpiece, turned and confronted the detective.
"I stopped the clock some moments ago, and here it is going and keeping exact time! How do you account for it?"