OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

142 MAINLY MAIGRET
one hand to his chest. ... I think he wanted to speak. . . . But the
moment I tried to lift him he stiffened in my arms. ... He was dead,
shot through the heart."
" Is that all you know? "
" We telephoned to the gendarmerie and to the doctor. We called
Wienands, who came over to help us. ... I was conscious of a
certain embarrassment in the air, and I suddenly realized I had been
seen holding the revolver. The police called my attention to the
fact and asked me to explain it. They politely asked me to hold
myself at their disposal/'
" That's six days ago, isn't it? "
" Yes. Since then I've been working on the problem. It certainly
is one! . . . Look at these papers.... All the same, I feel I'm making
progress."
Maigret knocked out his pipe without so much as glancing at
the papers in question.
" You're confined to the hotel? "
" As a matter of fact, I'd rather it was left like that. I wish to
avoid any possible incident. Popinga was very popular with his
pupils, and it's impossible to go out without running into them at
every corner."
" They haven't found any clues? "
" Precious few. But Any brings me any information she thinks
might be helpful. She is working on the case too, and has hopes
of clearing it up, though to my mind she doesn't go about it quite
methodically enough. . . . She told me that the bath is provided
with a sort of wooden lid which, when down, serves as an ironingboard.
And the day after the crime, on raising this lid, a cap
was found lying in the bath, a peak cap such as all the sailor folk
wear round here. It had never been seen in the house before. . . .
A careful examination of the ground floor, moreover, had brought
to light a cigar-end on the dining-room carpet. It was of very dark
tobacco—Manila, I think. Nobody wh6 had been in the house that
night was in the habit of smoking such a thing. As for me, I never
smoke at all... . And this is the interesting thing—the diningroom
had been swept directly after dinner. ..."
" From which you conclude? "
" Nothing," answered Jean Duclos dryly. " I'll come to my conclusions
in due course. I must apologize for having brought you
on so long a journey. But I must confess I am surprised they should
have sent someone who doesn't speak Dutch.. •. Really I think