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"These pistols were the surprise that I had prepared in a spirit of mischief. I had taken them from the pockets of the last two specimens and kept them for the sake of the devices that those two imbeciles had scratched on the butts. "'Pistols! exclaimed Piragoff. 'Let me look at them. He snatched the weapons from the top of the box and took them over to the lamp.

The fact might be mentioned at the inquest. It would be most inconvenient for Piragoff. "'And, look you, he continued; 'wear a top-hat and good clothes; if you have an evening suit, put it on. And bring a new Gladstone bag with some clothes in it. Where will you meet me?

If I am known to be selling things of value, people may make uncharitable remarks and busy-bodies may ask inconvenient questions. You see my position? Piragoff looked at me fixedly, eagerly. A new light was in his eye now. "'What have you got? he demanded. "I coughed again. 'Aha! I said with a smile. 'It is you who are asking questions now. "'But you ask me to advise you.

"We walked quickly across the square towards the neighborhood of my house. Piragoff was very affable. He conversed cheerfully as we went and gave a pleasant 'Good night' to a policeman, who touched his helmet civilly in response. When I halted at the door of the museum, he looked about him with a slight frown. "'I seem to know this place, he murmured.

He was in the dining-room at two o'clock in the morning preparing to steal the plate. A lady came into the room and disturbed him. He tried to prevent her from ringing the bell. But she rang it; and he shot her dead. I need not tell you, Piragoff, who that burglar was. But I will tell you who I am. I am the husband of that lady.

"'I am not so sure, replied another voice presumably Piragoff's. 'The babbling fool who let us the house may talk more; and who knows but some of our own people may betray us. That woman Kosminsky looked very queerly at us, I thought. "'Bah! exclaimed the other. 'Come and lie down, Piragoff. Tomorrow we will leave this place and separate. We shall go away for a time and they will forget us.

It was a typical ringed hair! And what was the inference? "The hair was almost certainly Piragoff's. Piragoff was a burglar, a ruthless murderer, and he had ringed hair. The man whom I sought was a burglar, a ruthless murderer, and had ringed hair. Then Piragoff was my man. It was bad logic, but the probabilities were overwhelming.

"I took off the lid and stood back to see what would happen. "Piragoff stared into the box without speaking for two or three seconds. Suddenly he uttered a shriek. 'It is Boris! Boris and Louis Plotcovitch! "His figure stiffened.

'They are in the house. It is an ambush. "'Yes, cried the third man, 'it is as Boris says. The house is dark and they are hiding in it. Bolt the door and let them come up to us; and we will kill them kill! kill! kill! he ended with an unearthly shriek and a burst of hysterical sobs. "'I shall go, said Piragoff. 'There is a chance. "'There is none, shrieked the other. 'Come back, madman!

"A howl of dismay was the answer. The two wretches burst into a grotesque mixture of weeping and cursing, and I heard them literally dancing about the room in the ecstasy of their terror. "'Come out! repeated Piragoff. 'We will kill them all! We will shoot those pigs, every one of them! Some of us shall get away. Come! "'It is of no use, Piragoff, whimpered one of his comrades.