This is the story as Mr. Ricardo wrote it out from the statement
of Celia herself and the confession of Adele Rossignol.
Obscurities which had puzzled him were made clear. But he was
still unaware how Hanaud had worked out the solution.
"You promised me that you would explain," he said, when they were
both together after the trial was over at Aix. The two men had
just finished luncheon at the Cercle and were sitting over their
coffee. Hanaud lighted a cigar.
"There were difficulties, of course," he said; "the crime was so
carefully planned. The little details, such as the footprints, the
absence of any mud from the girl's shoes in the carriage of the
motor-car, the dinner at Annecy, the purchase of the cord, the
want of any sign of a struggle in the little salon, were all
carefully thought out. Had not one little accident happened, and
one little mistake been made in consequence, I doubt if we should
have laid our hands upon one of the gang. We might have suspected
Wethermill; we should hardly have secured him, and we should very
likely never have known of the Tace family. That mistake was, as
you no doubt are fully aware--"
"The failure of Wethermill to discover Mme. Dauvray's jewels,"
said Ricardo at once.
"No, my friend," answered Hanaud. "That made them keep Mlle. Celie
alive. It enabled us to save her when we had discovered the
whereabouts of the gang. It did not help us very much to lay our
hands upon them. No; the little accident which happened was the
entrance of our friend Perrichet into the garden while the
murderers were still in the room. Imagine that scene, M. Ricardo.
The rage of the murderers at their inability to discover the
plunder for which they had risked their necks, the old woman
crumpled up on the floor against the wall, the girl writing
laboriously with fettered arms 'I do not know' under threats of
torture, and then in the stillness of the night the clear, tiny
click of the gate and the measured, relentless footsteps. No
wonder they were terrified in that dark room. What would be their
one thought? Why, to get away--to come back perhaps later, when
Mlle. Celie should have told them what, by the way, she did not
know, but in any case to get away now. So they made their little
mistake, and in their hurry they left the light burning in the
room of Helene Vauquier, and the murder was discovered seven hours
too soon for them."
"Seven hours!" said Mr. Ricardo.
"Yes. The household did not rise early. It was not until seven
that the charwoman came. It was she who was meant to discover the
crime. By that time the motor-car would have been back three hours
ago in its garage. Servettaz, the chauffeur, would have returned
from Chambery some time in the morning, he would have cleaned the
car, he would have noticed that there was very little petrol in
the tank, as there had been when he had left it on the day before.
He would not have noticed that some of his many tins which had
been full yesterday were empty to-day. We should not have
discovered that about four in the morning the car was close to the
Villa Rose and that it had travelled, between midnight and five in
the morning, a hundred and fifty kilometres."