Death and the Compass

The last of the letters of the Name has been uttered

           
           Afterwards, he examined the small room of Gryphius-Ginz-
         berg. On the floor there was a brusque star of blood, in the
         corners, traces of cigarettes of a Hungarian brand; in a cabinet,
         a book in Latin - the Philologus Hebraeo-Graecus (1739) of
         Leusden - with several manuscript notes. Treviranus looked it
         over with indignation and had Lönnrot located. The latter,
         without removing his hat, began to read while the inspector
         was interrogating the contradictory witnesses to the possible
         kidnapping. At four o'dock they left. Out on the twisted rue de
         Toulon, as they were treading on the dead serpentines of the
         dawn, Treviranus said:
          'And what if all this business tonight were just a mock
         rehearsal ?'
          Erik Lönnrot smiled and, with all gravity, read a passage
         (which was underlined) from the thirty-third dissertation of the
         Philologus: Dies Judacorum incipit ad solis occasu usque ad
         solis occasum diei sequentis.
          'This means,' he added, ' "The Hebrew day begins at sun-
         down and lasts until the following sundown."'
          The inspector attempted an irony.
          'Is that fact the most valuable one you've come across
         tonight?'
          'No. Even more valuable was a word that Ginzberg used.'
          The afternoon papers did not overlook the periodic dis-
         appearances. La Cruz de Ia Espada contrasted them with the
         admirable discipline and order of the last Hermetical Congress;
         Ernst Palast, in El Mártir, criticized 'the intolerable delays in
         this clandestine and frugal pogrom, which has taken three
         months to murder three Jews'; the Yidische Zaitung rejected
         the horrible hypothesis of an anti-Semitic plot, 'even though
         many penetrating intellects admit no other solution to the
         triple mystery'; the most illustrious gunman of the south,
         Dandy Red Scharlach, swore that in his district similar crimes
         could never occur, and he accused Inspector Franz Treviranus
         of culpable negligence.
         


                                  Labrynths p. 111
         

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