Page 56 (2/2)

"Patience, my friend Her story was not all untrue I say there

were brains behind this crime; yes, but brains, even the

cleverest, would not have invented this queer, strange story of

the seances and of Mme de Montespan That is truth But yet, if

there were a seance held, if the scrap of paper were spirit-

writing in answer to some aard question, why--and here I come

to my first question, which M Ricardo has oance last night? What

Vauquier said is true Her dress was not suited to a seance A

light-coloured, rustling frock, which would be visible in a diht, or even in the dark, which would certainly be heard at

every

hat--no no! I tell you, gentleet to the bottom

of this mystery until we knohy Mlle Celie dressed herself as

she did last night" "Yes," Ricardo admitted "I overlooked that

point" "Did she--" Hanaud broke off and bowed to Wetherrace and a respect which condoned his words "Youfriend, while I consider all these points Did

she expect to join that night a lover--a man with the brains to

devise this crime? But if so--and here I come to the second

question orass outside the door of the salon, were the footsteps of the man

and woman so carefully erased, and the footsteps of Mlle Celie--

those little footsteps so easily identified--left for all the

world to see and recognise?"