The journalist continued his examination, full of excitement. Surely he was on the right track!

“Ah! Ah! Here are stones freshly scraped and scratched!” he cried delightedly. “And this white mark is just the kind of mark which would be made by a cord scraping against the wall! And look what a size this chimney is! It’s not only one Jacques Dollon who could pass out by it, but two! Even three! A whole army! Ab, ha, I believe I am on the right track! Now for it...!”

Fandor bent over and looked down into the interior of the chimney; and, at the risk of toppling over, he managed to reach something he saw shining in the darkness of the opening; he drew himself up again, radiant.

“By God! There are irons fixed in the walls of the chimney to climb up and down by; and, what is more, they bear traces of a recent passage – the rust has been rubbed off here and there!... Yes, it is by this way Dollon has come out!... To whom else could it be an advantage to use this as an exit from the interior of the Palais onto the roofs?” Fandor was hot on the scent! Here indeed was matter for an article which would bring him into notice – prime business for a journalist!

“If Dollon had been alive,” reflected Fandor, “it is evident that, once on the roofs, he had a choice of three ways of escape – he could do what I have just done, but the other way about; he could break a skylight, jump into a garret, and lie hidden under the tiles, awaiting the propitious moment when he could sneak into the corridors below and, mingling with the crowd, slip unobserved into the street; or, he could hide among the roofs, and stay there; or, he could search for an opening – one of those air holes which put the cellars and drains in communication with the exterior.... But I have come to the conclusion that Dollon is dead! In which case his corpse could only remain up here; or, it has been put down into some place where nobody goes. The garrets of the Palais are so incessantly visited by the clerks and registrars that no corpse could remain undiscovered in any of them.

Therefore, either Jacques Dollon’s corpse is somewhere on the roofs of the Palais – or there is some sort of connection between the roofs and the drains – it is obvious!” Evidently the next step was to search every hole and corner of these same roofs. Armed with revolver and lantern, Fandor started on his tour of investigation; but cautiously, for he was now almost certain that there were a number of accomplices involved in this Dollon affair.