This time, Floriani was obliged to reply. He did so with the greatest tranquility, as if the objection was the most insignificant affair in the world.

“I will admit that it was; but is there not a transom in the upper part of the window?”

“How do you know that?”

“In the first place, that was customary in houses of that date; and, in the second place, without such a transom, the theft cannot be explained.”

“Yes, there is one, but it was closed, the same as the window. Consequently, we did not pay attention to it.”

“That was a mistake; for, if you had examined it, you would have found that it had been opened.”

“But how?”

“I presume that, like all others, it opens by means of a wire with a ring on the lower end.”