Lecoq followed the physician’s explanations, and tried to make them agree with the vague hypotheses that were revolving in his own brain.  But who could these individuals be?  Would they, in death, guard the secret of their identity, as the other victim had done?

The first subject examined by the physicians was over fifty years of age.  His hair was very thin and quite gray and his face was closely shaven, excepting a thick tuft of hair on his rather prominent chin.  He was very poorly clad, wearing a soiled woolen blouse and a pair of dilapidated trousers hanging in rags over his boots, which were very much trodden down at the heels.  The old doctor declared that this man must have been instantly killed by a bullet.  The size of the circular wound, the absence of blood around its edge, and the blackened and burnt state of the flesh demonstrated this fact with almost mathematical precision.

The great difference that exists in wounds made by firearms, according to the distance from which the death-dealing missile comes, was seen when the physicians began to examine the last of the murdered men.  The ball that had caused the latter’s death had scarcely crossed a yard of space before reaching him, and his wound was not nearly so hideous in aspect as the other’s.  This individual, who was at least fifteen years younger than his companion, was short and remarkably ugly; his face, which was quite beardless, being pitted all over by the smallpox.  His garb was such as is worn by the worst frequenters of the barriere.  His trousers were of a gray checked material, and his blouse, turned back at the throat, was blue.  It was noticed that his boots had been blackened quite recently.  The smart glazed cap that lay on the floor beside him was in harmony with his carefully curled hair and gaudy necktie.

These were the only facts that the physicians’ report set forth in technical terms, this was the only information obtained by the most careful investigation.  The two men’s pockets were explored and turned inside out; but they contained nothing that gave the slightest clue to their identity, either as regards name, social position, or profession.  There was not even the slightest indication on any of these points, not a letter, nor an address, not a fragment of paper, nothing—­not even such common articles of personal use, as a tobacco pouch, a knife, or a pipe which might be recognized, and thus establish the owner’s identity.  A little tobacco in a paper bag, a couple of pocket handkerchiefs that were unmarked, a packet of cigarettes—­these were the only articles discovered beyond the money which the victims carried loose in their pockets.  On this point, it should be mentioned that the elder man had sixty-seven francs about him, and the younger one, two louis.