"But it seems to me," he
ventured to say at last, "that this individual was not coming from this
ill-fated hovel."
"Of course not; the direction of the foot tells you that. No, he was
not going away, he was coming here. But he did not pass beyond the spot
where we are now standing. He was standing on tiptoe with outstretched
neck and listening ears, when, on reaching this spot, he heard some
noise, fear seized him, and he fled."
"Or rather, the women were going out as he was coming, and--"
"No, the women were outside the garden when he entered it."
This assertion seemed far too audacious to suit Lecoq's companion, who
remarked: "One can not be sure of that."
"I am sure of it, however; and can prove it conclusively. If you doubt
it, it is because your eyes are growing old. Bring your lantern a little
nearer--yes, here it is--our man placed his large foot upon one of the
marks made by the woman with the small foot and almost effaced it."
This unexceptionable piece of circumstantial evidence stupefied the old
police agent.
"Now," continued Lecoq, "could this man have been the accomplice whom
the murderer was expecting? Might it not have been some strolling
vagrant whose attention was attracted by the two pistol shots? This is
what we must ascertain. And we will ascertain it. Come!"
A wooden fence of lattice-work, rather more than three feet high,
was all that separated the Widow Chupin's garden from the waste land
surrounding it.
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