And I confess that the affair gives me infinite
satisfaction and pride. The forty minutes that I passed in the
apartment of the Countess d'Andillot, after learning of her death,
were the most thrilling and absorbing moments of my life. In those
forty minutes, involved as I was in a most dangerous plight, I
calmly studied the scene of the murder and reached the conclusion
that the crime must have been committed by one of the house
servants. I also decided that, in order to get the pearl, that
servant must be arrested, and so I left the wainscoat button; it
was necessary, also, for me to hold some convincing evidence of his
guilt, so I carried away the knife which I found upon the floor,
and the key which I found in the lock. I closed and locked the
door, and erased the finger-marks from the plaster in the wardrobe-
closet. In my opinion, that was one of those flashes--"
"Of genius," I said, interrupting.
"Of genius, if you wish. But, I flatter myself, it would not have
occurred to the average mortal. To frame, instantly, the two
elements of the problem--an arrest and an acquittal; to make use of
the formidable machinery of the law to crush and humble my victim,
and reduce him to a condition in which, when free, he would be
certain to fall into the trap I was laying for him!"
"Poor devil--"
"Poor devil, do you say? Victor Danegre, the assassin! He might
have descended to the lowest depths of vice and crime, if he had
retained the black pearl.
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