"You found this volume upstairs, madame, in the library?"
"Yes, in a parcel of books that had not been uncorded."
"And you read it?"
"Yes, last night."
"When you read it, were those two pages missing? Try and remember: the two pages following this table of figures and dots?"
"No, certainly not," she said, greatly astonished. "There was no page missing at all."
"Still, somebody has torn—"
"But the book did not leave my room last night."
"And this morning?"
"This morning, I brought it down here myself, when M. Massiban's arrival was announced."
"Then—?"
"Well, I don't understand—unless—but no."
"What?"
"Georges—my son—this morning—Georges was playing with the book."
She ran out headlong, accompanied by Beautrelet, Massiban and the baron. The child was not in his room. They hunt
