"That was just before I came," said Hanaud. He crossed carelessly
to the open window which overlooked the road and, leaning out of
it, looked up the road to the corner round which he and his
friends had come, precisely as the Commissaire had done. Then he
turned back into the room.
"Which was the last cupboard or drawer that Helene Vauquier
touched?" he asked.
"This one."
Besnard stooped and pulled open the bottom drawer of a chest which
stood in the embrasure of the window. A light-coloured dress was
lying at the bottom.
"I told her to be quick," said Besnard, "since I had seen that you
were coming. She lifted this dress out and said that nothing was
missing there. So I took her back to her room and left her with
the nurse."
Hanaud lifted the light dress from the drawer, shook it out in
front of the window, twirled it round, snatched up a corner of it
and held it to his eyes, and then, folding it quickly, replaced it
in the drawer.
"Now show me the first drawer she touched." And this time he
lifted out a petticoat, and, taking it to the window, examined it
with a greater care. When he had finished with it he handed it to
Ricardo to put away, and stood for a moment or two thoughtful and
absorbed. Ricardo in his turn examined the petticoat. But he could
see nothing unusual. It was an attractive petticoat, dainty with
frills and lace, but it was hardly a thing to grow thoughtful
over. He looked up in perplexity and saw that Hanaud was watching
his investigations with a smile of amusement.
"When M. Ricardo has put that away," he said, "we will hear what
Helene Vauquier has to tell us."
He passed out of the door last, and, locking it, placed the key in
his pocket.
"Helene Vauquier's room is, I think, upstairs," he said. And he
moved towards the staircase.
But as he did so a man in plain clothes, who had been waiting upon
the landing, stepped forward. He carried in his hand a piece of
thin, strong whipcord.
"Ah, Durette!" cried Besnard. "Monsieur Hanaud, I sent Durette
this morning round the shops of Aix with the cord which was found
knotted round Mme. Dauvray's neck."
Hanaud advanced quickly to the man.
"Well! Did you discover anything?"
"Yes, monsieur," said Durette. "At the shop of M. Corval, in the
Rue du Casino, a young lady in a dark-grey frock and hat bought
some cord of this kind at a few minutes after nine last night. It
was just as the shop was being closed. I showed Corval the
photograph of Celie Harland which M. le Commissaire gave me out of
Mme. Dauvray's room, and he identified it as the portrait of the
girl who had bought the cord."