Helene Vauquier bent her head over the paper.
"No," said Helene at last. "I do not think I have omitted
anything." And she handed the paper back.
"I asked you," Hanaud continued suavely, "because I understand
that Mlle. Celie usually wore a pair of diamond ear-drops, and
they are not mentioned here."
A faint colour came into the maid's face.
"That is true, monsieur. I had forgotten. It is quite true."
"Any one might forget," said Hanaud, with a reassuring smile. "But
you will remember now. Think! think! Did Mlle. Celie wear them
last night?" He leaned forward, waiting for her reply. Wethermill
too, made a movement. Both men evidently thought the point of
great importance. The maid looked at Hanaud for a few moments
without speaking.
"It is not from me, mademoiselle, that you will get the answer,"
said Hanaud quietly.
"No, monsieur. I was thinking," said the maid, her face flushing
at the rebuke.
"Did she wear them when she went down the stairs last night?" he
insisted.
"I think she wore them," she said doubtfully. Ye-es--yes," and the
words came now firm and clear. "I remember well. Mlle. Celie had
taken them off before her bath, and they lay on the dressing-
table. She put them into her ears while I dressed her hair and
arranged the bow of ribbon in it."
"Then we will add the earrings to your description," said Hanaud,
as he rose from his chair with the paper in his hand, "and for the
moment we need not trouble you any more about Mademoiselle Celie."
He folded the paper up, slipped it into his letter-case, and put
it away in his pocket. "Let us consider that poor Madame Dauvray!
Did she keep much money in the house?"
"No, monsieur; very little. She was well known in Aix and her
cheques were everywhere accepted without question. It was a high
pleasure to serve madame, her credit was so good," said Helene
Vauquier, raising her head as though she herself had a share in
the pride of that good credit.
"No doubt," Hanaud agreed. "There are many fine households where
the banking account is overdrawn, and it cannot be pleasant for
the servants."
"They are put to so many shifts to hide it from the servants of
their neighbours," said Helene. "Besides," and she made a little
grimace of contempt, "a fine household and an overdrawn banking
account--it is like a ragged petticoat under a satin dress. That
was never the case with Madame Dauvray."
"So that she was under no necessity to have ready money always in
her pocket," said Hanaud. "I understand that. But at times perhaps
she won at the Villa des Fleurs?"
Helene Vauquier shook her head.
"She loved the Villa des Fleurs, but she never played for high
sums and often never played at all. If she won a few louis, she
was as delighted with her gains and as afraid to lose them again
at the tables as if she were of the poorest, and she stopped at
once. No, monsieur; twenty or thirty louis--there was never more
than that in the house."