The doctor explained, as the old man had done, the position of the body.

In his opinion also, there had been a struggle.

He pointed out a bluish circle, hardly perceptible, round the neck of the victim, produced apparently by the powerful grasp of the murderer; finally he declared that Widow Lerouge had eaten about three hours before being struck.
Nothing now remained except to collect the different objects which would be useful for the prosecution, and might at a later period confound the culprit.

Old Tabaret examined with extreme care the dead woman's finger-nails; and, using infinite precaution, he even extracted from behind them several small particles of kid.

The largest of these pieces was not above the twenty-fifth part of an inch in length; but all the same their colour was easily distinguishable.