"Yes," said Mr. Ricardo.
"Yes; but there was also another question. Suppose that Mlle.
Celie was, after all, the victim, not the accomplice; suppose she
had been flung tied upon the sofa; suppose that somehow the
imprint of her shoes upon the ground had been made, and that she
had afterwards been carried away, so that the maid might be
cleared of all complicity--in that case it became intelligible why
the other footprints were scored out and hers left. The
presumption of guilt would fall upon her. There would be proof
that she ran hurriedly from the room and sprang into a motor-car
of her own free will. But, again, if that theory were true, then
Helene Vauquier was the accomplice and not Mlle. Celie."
"I follow that."
"Then I found an interesting piece of evidence with regard to the
strange woman who came: I picked up a long red hair--a very
important piece of evidence about which I thought it best to say
nothing at all. It was not Mlle. Celie's hair, which is fair; nor
Vauquier's, which is black; nor Mme. Dauvray's, which is dyed
brown; nor the charwoman's, which is grey. It was, therefore, the
visitor's. Well, we went upstairs to Mile. Celie's room."
"Yes," said Mr. Ricardo eagerly. "We are coming to the pot of
cream."
"In that room we learnt that Helene Vauquier, at her own request,
had already paid it a visit. It is true the Commissaire said that
he had kept his eye on her the whole time. But none the less from
the window he saw me coming down the road, and that he could not
have done, as I made sure, unless he had turned his back upon
Vauquier and leaned out of the window. Now at the time I had an
open mind about Vauquier. On the whole I was inclined to think she
had no share in the affair. But either she or Mlle. Celie had, and
perhaps both. But one of them--yes. That was sure. Therefore I
asked what drawers she touched after the Commissaire had leaned
out of the window. For if she had any motive in wishing to visit
the room she would have satisfied it when the Commissaire's back
was turned. He pointed to a drawer, and I took out a dress and
shook it, thinking that she may have wished to hide something. But
nothing fell out. On the other hand, however, I saw some quite
fresh grease-marks, made by fingers, and the marks were wet. I
began to ask myself how it was that Helene Vauquier, who had just
been helped to dress by the nurse, had grease upon her fingers.
Then I looked at a drawer which she had examined first of all.
There were no grease-marks on the clothes she had turned over
before the Commissaire leaned out of the window. Therefore it
followed that during the few seconds when he was watching me she
had touched grease. I looked about the room, and there on the
dressing-table close by the chest of drawers was a pot of cold
cream. That was the grease Helene Vauquier had touched. And why--
if not to hide some small thing in it which, firstly, she dared
not keep in her own room; which, secondly, she wished to hide in
the room of Mlle. Celie; and which, thirdly, she had not had an
opportunity to hide before? Now bear those three conditions in
mind, and tell me what the small thing was."