Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER VI. WHO WAS THE ASSASSIN1 JEVER had so mysterious an affair presented it- self in Paris as the crime of the rue de la Paix. It could not be doubted that murder rather than suicide had been committed, but the assassin, other than the terrible wound which he had made, had left no trace of his passage. The weapon which he had used belonged to the victim, and after the most minute researches none of those objects had been discovered in the apartment which ordinarily suffice to enlighten magistrates and convince jurymen. In a recent case in England a hat forgotten by the murderer caused his death-sentence, and a button fallen from a shirt has been sufficient to behead more than one criminal. But in the case before us there is no alternative but to lean on moral probabilities, and to enter the vast field of hypothesis and supposition. Who could have had an interest in killing Maurice Vidal ? Was it his wife ? Serious minds could not dwell on this thought for a moment: Julia needed the sympathy of every one; the blow which her husband had received came near killing her. Oneshould rather think. of avenging than suspecting her. Was it a common robber, a professional robber ? His presence would have been noticed in the house, he would have carried away the gold found in the cabinet, and Maurice Vidal would not, in his last moments, have attempted to write a name of which he must be ignorant. Was it a tenant of the house ? All the information received in regard to the few lodgers of No. 6 represented them as very quiet people, who could not reasonably be suspected of a crime. Was it one of the persons whom Maurice Vidal was in the habit of receiving ? After listening to their clear and precise depositions, and receiving the testimony which came from all sides reg…
