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肩書を与える: The Eight 一打／打撃s of the Clock
Author: Maurice Leblanc
eBook No.: c00090.html
Language: English
Date first 地位，任命するd: Sep 2022
Most 最近の update: 損なう 2025

This eBook was produced by: Colin Choat

見解（をとる） our licence and header

The Eight 一打／打撃s of the Clock

by

Maurice Leblanc

Published in 1922
New York
The Macaulay Company

Translated from French by
Alexander Teixeira de Mattos

Contents

Author's 公式文書，認める
1. On the 最高の，を越す of the Tower
2. The Water-瓶／封じ込める
3. The 事例／患者 of ジーンズ Louis
4. The Tell-tale Film
5. Th駻鑚e and Germaine
6. The Lady with the Hatchet
7. 足跡s in the Snow
8. At the 調印する of 水銀柱，温度計

"The girl gasped as Renine (Arsene Lupin) drew 前へ／外へ the mysterious telescope."
[drawn by G W Gage]

Author's 公式文書，認める

These adventures were told to me in the old days by Ars鈩e Lupin, as though they had happened to a friend of his, 指名するd Prince R駭ine. As for me, considering the way in which they were 行為／行うd, the 活動／戦闘s, the behaviour and the very character of the hero, I find it very difficult not to identify the two friends as one and the same person. Ars鈩e Lupin is gifted with a powerful imagination and is やめる 有能な of せいにするing to himself adventures which are not his at all and of disowning those which are really his. The reader will 裁判官 for himself.

M. L.

1. On the 最高の，を越す of the Tower

Hortense Daniel 押し進めるd her window ajar and whispered:

"Are you there, Rossigny?"

"I am here," replied a 発言する／表明する from the shrubbery at the 前線 of the house.

Leaning 今後, she saw a rather fat man looking up at her out of a 甚だしい／１２ダース red 直面する with its cheeks and chin 始める，決める in unpleasantly fair whiskers.

"井戸／弁護士席?" he asked.

"井戸／弁護士席, I had a 広大な／多数の／重要な argument with my uncle and aunt last night. They 絶対 辞退する to 調印する the 文書 of which my lawyer sent them the 草案, or to 回復する the dowry squandered by my husband."

"But your uncle is responsible by the 条件 of the marriage-解決／入植地."

"No 事柄. He 辞退するs."

"井戸／弁護士席, what do you 提案する to do?"

"Are you still 決定するd to run away with me?" she asked, with a laugh.

"More so than ever."

"Your 意向s are 厳密に honourable, remember!"

"Just as you please. You know that I am madly in love with you."

"Unfortunately I am not madly in love with you!"

"Then what made you choose me?"

"Chance. I was bored. I was growing tired of my humdrum 存在. So I'm ready to run 危険s...Here's my luggage: catch!"

She let 負かす／撃墜する from the window a couple of large leather 道具-捕らえる、獲得するs. Rossigny caught them in his 武器.

"The die is cast," she whispered. "Go and wait for me with your car at the If 十字路／岐路. I shall come on horseback."

"Hang it, I can't run off with your horse!"

"He will go home by himself."

"資本／首都!...Oh, by the way..."

"What is it?"

"Who is this Prince R駭ine, who's been here the last three days and whom nobody seems to know?"

"I don't know much about him. My uncle met him at a friend's shoot and asked him here to stay."

"You seem to have made a 広大な／多数の／重要な impression on him. You went for a long ride with him yesterday. He's a man I don't care for."

"In two hours I shall have left the house in your company. The スキャンダル will 冷静な／正味の him off...井戸／弁護士席, we've talked long enough. We have no time to lose."

For a few minutes she stood watching the fat man bending under the 負わせる of her 罠（にかける）s as he moved away in the 避難所 of an empty avenue. Then she の近くにd the window.

Outside, in the park, the huntsmen's horns were sounding the reveille. The hounds burst into frantic baying. It was the 開始 day of the 追跡（する） that morning at the Ch穰eau de la 損なう閊e, where, every year, in the first week in September, the Comte d'Aigleroche, a mighty hunter before the Lord, and his countess were accustomed to 招待する a few personal friends and the 隣人ing landowners.

Hortense slowly finished dressing, put on a riding-habit, which 明らかにする／漏らすd the lines of her supple 人物／姿／数字, and a wide-brimmed felt hat, which encircled her lovely 直面する and auburn hair, and sat 負かす／撃墜する to her 令状ing-desk, at which she wrote to her uncle, M. d'Aigleroche, a 別れの（言葉，会） letter to be 配達するd to him that evening. It was a difficult letter to word; and, after beginning it several times, she ended by giving up the idea.

"I will 令状 to him later," she said to herself, "when his 怒り／怒る has 冷静な／正味のd 負かす／撃墜する."

And she went downstairs to the dining-room.

Enormous スピードを出す／記録につけるs were 炎ing in the hearth of the lofty room. The 塀で囲むs were hung with トロフィーs of ライフル銃／探して盗むs and shotguns. The guests were flocking in from every 味方する, shaking 手渡すs with the Comte d'Aigleroche, one of those typical country squires, ひどく and powerfully built, who lives only for 追跡（する）ing and 狙撃. He was standing before the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, with a large glass of old brandy in his 手渡す, drinking the health of each new arrival.

Hortense kissed him absently:

"What, uncle! You who are usually so sober!"

"Pooh!" he said. "A man may surely indulge himself a little once a year!..."

"Aunt will give you a scolding!"

"Your aunt has one of her sick 頭痛s and is not coming 負かす／撃墜する. Besides," he 追加するd, gruffly, "it is not her 商売／仕事...and still いっそう少なく is it yours, my dear child."

Prince R駭ine （機の）カム up to Hortense. He was a young man, very smartly dressed, with a 狭くする and rather pale 直面する, whose 注目する，もくろむs held by turns the gentlest and the harshest, the most friendly and the most satirical 表現. He 屈服するd to her, kissed her 手渡す and said:

"May I remind you of your 肉親，親類d 約束, dear madame?"

"My 約束?"

"Yes, we agreed that we should repeat our delightful excursion of yesterday and try to go over that old boarded-up place the look of which made us so curious. It seems to be known as the Domaine de Halingre."

She answered a little curtly:

"I'm 極端に sorry, monsieur, but it would be rather far and I'm feeling a little done up. I shall go for a canter in the park and come indoors again."

There was a pause. Then Serge R駭ine said, smiling, with his 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on hers and in a 発言する／表明する which she alone could hear:

"I am sure that you'll keep your 約束 and that you'll let me come with you. It would be better."

"For whom? For you, you mean?"

"For you, too, I 保証する you."

She coloured わずかに, but did not reply, shook 手渡すs with a few people around her and left the room.

A groom was 持つ／拘留するing the horse at the foot of the steps. She 機動力のある and 始める，決める off に向かって the 支持を得ようと努めるd beyond the park.

It was a 冷静な／正味の, still morning. Through the leaves, which barely quivered, the sky showed crystalline blue. Hortense 棒 at a walk 負かす／撃墜する winding avenues which in half an hour brought her to a countryside of ravines and bluffs intersected by the highroad.

She stopped. There was not a sound. Rossigny must have stopped his engine and 隠すd the car in the thickets around the If 十字路／岐路.

She was five hundred yards at most from that circular space. After hesitating for a few seconds, she dismounted, tied her horse carelessly, so that he could 解放（する） himself by the least 成果／努力 and return to the house, shrouded her 直面する in the long brown 隠す that hung over her shoulders and walked on.

As she 推定する／予想するd, she saw Rossigny 直接／まっすぐに she reached the first turn in the road. He ran up to her and drew her into the coppice!

"Quick, quick! Oh, I was so afraid that you would be late...or even change your mind! And here you are! It seems too good to be true!"

She smiled:

"You appear to be やめる happy to do an idiotic thing!"

"I should think I am happy! And so will you be, I 断言する you will! Your life will be one long fairytale. You shall have every 高級な, and all the money you can wish for."

"I want neither money nor 高級なs."

"What then?"

"Happiness."

"You can 安全に leave your happiness to me."

She replied, jestingly:

"I rather 疑問 the 質 of the happiness which you would give me."

"Wait! You'll see! You'll see!"

They had reached the モーター. Rossigny, still stammering 表現s of delight, started the engine. Hortense stepped in and wrapped herself in a wide cloak. The car followed the 狭くする, grassy path which led 支援する to the 十字路／岐路 and Rossigny was 加速するing the 速度(を上げる）, when he was suddenly 軍隊d to pull up. A 発射 had rung out from the 隣人ing 支持を得ようと努めるd, on the 権利. The car was swerving from 味方する to 味方する.

"A 前線 tire burst," shouted Rossigny, leaping to the ground.

"Not a bit of it!" cried Hortense. "Somebody 解雇する／砲火／射撃d!"

"Impossible, my dear! Don't be so absurd!"

At that moment, two slight shocks were felt and two more 報告（する）／憶測s were heard, one after the other, some way off and still in the 支持を得ようと努めるd.

Rossigny snarled:

"The 支援する tires burst now...both of them...But who, in the devil's 指名する, can the ruffian be?...Just let me get 持つ／拘留する of him, that's all!..."

He clambered up the 道端 slope. There was no one there. Moreover, the leaves of the coppice 封鎖するd the 見解（をとる）.

"Damn it! Damn it!" he swore. "You were 権利: somebody was 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing at the car! Oh, this is a bit 厚い! We shall be held up for hours! Three tires to mend!...But what are you doing, dear girl?"

Hortense herself had alighted from the car. She ran to him, 大いに excited:

"I'm going."

"But why?"

"I want to know. Someone 解雇する／砲火／射撃d. I want to know who it was."

"Don't let us separate, please!"

"Do you think I'm going to wait here for you for hours?"

"What about your running away?...All our 計画（する）s...?"

"We'll discuss that tomorrow. Go 支援する to the house. Take 支援する my things with you...And goodbye for the 現在の."

She hurried, left him, had the good luck to find her horse and 始める，決める off at a gallop in a direction 主要な away from La 損なう閊e.

There was not the least 疑問 in her mind that the three 発射s had been 解雇する／砲火／射撃d by Prince R駭ine.

"It was he," she muttered, 怒って, "it was he. No one else would be 有能な of such behaviour."

Besides, he had 警告するd her, in his smiling, masterful way, that he would 推定する／予想する her.

She was weeping with 激怒（する） and humiliation. At that moment, had she 設立する herself 直面する to 直面する with Prince R駭ine, she could have struck him with her riding-whip.

Before her was the rugged and picturesque stretch of country which lies between the Orne and the Sarthe, above Alen輟n, and which is known as Little Switzerland. 法外な hills compelled her frequently to 穏健な her pace, the more so as she had to cover some six miles before reaching her 目的地. But, though the 速度(を上げる） at which she 棒 became いっそう少なく headlong, though her physical 成果／努力 徐々に slackened, she にもかかわらず 固執するd in her indignation against Prince R駭ine. She bore him a grudge not only for the unspeakable 活動／戦闘 of which he had been 有罪の, but also for his behaviour to her during the last three days, his 執拗な attentions, his 保証／確信, his 空気／公表する of 過度の politeness.

She was nearly there. In the 底（に届く） of a valley, an old park-塀で囲む, 十分な of 割れ目s and covered with moss and 少しのd, 明らかにする／漏らすd the ball-turret of a ch穰eau and a few windows with の近くにd shutters. This was the Domaine de Halingre. She followed the 塀で囲む and turned a corner. In the middle of the 三日月-形態／調整d space before which lay the 入り口-gates, Serge R駭ine stood waiting beside his horse.

She sprang to the ground, and, as he stepped 今後, hat in 手渡す, thanking her for coming, she cried:

"One word, monsieur, to begin with. Something やめる inexplicable happened just now. Three 発射s were 解雇する／砲火／射撃d at a 自動車 in which I was sitting. Did you 解雇する／砲火／射撃 those 発射s?"

"Yes."

She seemed dumbfounded:

"Then you 自白する it?"

"You have asked a question, madame, and I have answered it."

"But how dared you? What gave you the 権利?"

"I was not 演習ing a 権利, madame; I was 成し遂げるing a 義務!"

"Indeed! And what 義務, pray?"

"The 義務 of 保護するing you against a man who is trying to 利益（をあげる） by your troubles."

"I forbid you to speak like that. I am 責任がある my own 活動／戦闘s, and I decided upon them in perfect liberty."

"Madame, I overheard your conversation with M. Rossigny this morning and it did not appear to me that you were …を伴ってing him with a light heart. I 収容する／認める the ruthlessness and bad taste of my 干渉，妨害 and I apologise for it 謙虚に; but I 危険d 存在 taken for a ruffian ーするために give you a few hours for reflection."

"I have 反映するd fully, monsieur. When I have once made up my mind to a thing, I do not change it."

"Yes, madame, you do, いつかs. If not, why are you here instead of there?"

Hortense was 混乱させるd for a moment. All her 怒り／怒る had 沈下するd. She looked at R駭ine with the surprise which one experiences when 直面するd with 確かな persons who are unlike their fellows, more 有能な of 成し遂げるing unusual 活動／戦闘s, more generous and disinterested. She realised perfectly that he was 事実上の／代理 without any ulterior 動機 or 計算／見積り, that he was, as he had said, 単に 実行するing his 義務 as a gentleman to a woman who has taken the wrong turning.

Speaking very gently, he said:

"I know very little about you, madame, but enough to make me wish to be of use to you. You are twenty-six years old and have lost both your parents. Seven years ago, you became the wife of the Comte d'Aigleroche's 甥 by marriage, who 証明するd to be of unsound mind, half insane indeed, and had to be 限定するd. This made it impossible for you to 得る a 離婚 and compelled you, since your dowry had been squandered, to live with your uncle and at his expense. It's a depressing 環境. The count and countess do not agree. Years ago, the count was 砂漠d by his first wife, who ran away with the countess' first husband. The abandoned husband and wife decided out of spite to 部隊 their fortunes, but 設立する nothing but 失望 and ill-will in this second marriage. And you 苦しむ the consequences. They lead a monotonous, 狭くする, lonely life for eleven months or more out of the year. One day, you met M. Rossigny, who fell in love with you and 示唆するd an elopement. You did not care for him. But you were bored, your 青年 was 存在 wasted, you longed for the 予期しない, for adventure...in a word, you 受託するd with the very 限定された 意向 of keeping your admirer at arm's length, but also with the rather ingenuous hope that the スキャンダル would 軍隊 your uncle's 手渡す and make him account for his trusteeship and 保証する you of an 独立した・無所属 存在. That is how you stand. At 現在の you have to choose between placing yourself in M. Rossigny's 手渡すs...or 信用ing yourself to me."

She raised her 注目する，もくろむs to his. What did he mean? What was the 趣旨 of this 申し込む／申し出 which he made so 本気で, like a friend who asks nothing but to 証明する his devotion?

After a moment's silence, he took the two horses by the bridle and tied them up. Then he 診察するd the 激しい gates, each of which was 強化するd by two planks nailed crosswise. An 選挙（人）の poster, 時代遅れの twenty years earlier, showed that no one had entered the domain since that time.

R駭ine tore up one of the アイロンをかける 地位，任命するs which supported a railing that ran 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 三日月 and used it as a lever. The rotten planks gave way. One of them 暴露するd the lock, which he attacked with a big knife, 含む／封じ込めるing a number of blades and 器具／実施するs. A minute later, the gate opened on a waste of bracken which led up to a long, dilapidated building, with a turret at each corner and a sort of a belvedere, built on a taller tower, in the middle.

The Prince turned to Hortense:

"You are in no hurry," he said. "You will form your 決定／判定勝ち（する） this evening; and, if M. Rossigny 後継するs in 説得するing you for the second time, I give you my word of honour that I shall not cross your path. Until then, 認める me the 特権 of your company. We made up our minds yesterday to 検査／視察する the ch穰eau. Let us do so. Will you? It is as good a way as any of passing the time and I have a notion that it will not be uninteresting."

He had a way of talking which compelled obedience. He seemed to be 命令（する）ing and entreating at the same time. Hortense did not even 捜し出す to shake off the enervation into which her will was slowly 沈むing. She followed him to a half-破壊するd flight of steps at the 最高の，を越す of which was a door likewise 強化するd by planks nailed in the form of a cross.

R駭ine went to work in the same way as before. They entered a spacious hall 覆うd with white and 黒人／ボイコット flagstones, furnished with old sideboards and choir-立ち往生させるs and adorned with a carved escutcheon which 陳列する，発揮するd the remains of armorial bearings, 代表するing an eagle standing on a 封鎖する of 石／投石する, all half-hidden behind a 隠す of cobwebs which hung 負かす／撃墜する over a pair of 倍のing-doors.

"The door of the 製図／抽選-room, evidently," said R駭ine.

He 設立する this more difficult to open; and it was only by 繰り返して 非難する it with his shoulder that he was able to move one of the doors.

Hortense had not spoken a word. She watched not without surprise this 一連の 不法侵入s, which were 遂行するd with a really 熟達した 技術. He guessed her thoughts and, turning 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, said in a serious 発言する／表明する:

"It's child's-play to me. I was a locksmith once."

She 掴むd his arm and whispered:

"Listen!"

"To what?" he asked.

She 増加するd the 圧力 of her 手渡す, to 需要・要求する silence. The next moment, he murmured:

"It's really very strange."

"Listen, listen!" Hortense repeated, in bewilderment. "Can it be possible?"

They heard, not far from where they were standing, a sharp sound, the sound of a light tap recurring at 正規の／正選手 intervals; and they had only to listen attentively to recognise the ticking of a clock. Yes, it was this and nothing else that broke the 深遠な silence of the dark room; it was indeed the 審議する／熟考する ticking, rhythmical as the （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 of a metronome, produced by a 激しい 厚かましさ／高級将校連 pendulum. That was it! And nothing could be more impressive than the 手段d pulsation of this trivial 機械装置, which by some 奇蹟, some inexplicable 現象, had continued to live in the heart of the dead ch穰eau.

"And yet," stammered Hortense, without daring to raise her 発言する／表明する, "no one has entered the house?"

"No one."

"And it is やめる impossible for that clock to have kept going for twenty years without 存在 負傷させる up?"

"やめる impossible."

"Then...?"

Serge R駭ine opened the three windows and threw 支援する the shutters.

He and Hortense were in a 製図／抽選-room, as he had thought; and the room showed not the least 調印する of disorder. The 議長，司会を務めるs were in their places. Not a piece of furniture was 行方不明の. The people who had lived there and who had made it the most individual room in their house had gone away leaving everything just as it was, the 調書をとる／予約するs which they used to read, the knickknacks on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs and consoles.

R駭ine 診察するd the old grandfather's clock, 含む／封じ込めるd in its tall carved 事例／患者 which showed the disk of the pendulum through an oval pane of glass. He opened the door of the clock. The 負わせるs hanging from the cords were at their lowest point.

At that moment there was a click. The clock struck eight with a serious 公式文書，認める which Hortense was never to forget.

"How 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の!" she said.

"驚くべき／特命の／臨時の indeed," said he, "for the 作品 are exceedingly simple and would hardly keep going for a week."

"And do you see nothing out of the ありふれた?"

"No, nothing...or, at least..."

He stooped and, from the 支援する of the 事例／患者, drew a metal tube which was 隠すd by the 負わせるs. 持つ／拘留するing it up to the light:

"A telescope," he said, thoughtfully. "Why did they hide it?...And they left it drawn out to its 十分な length...That's 半端物...What does it mean?"

The clock, as is いつかs usual, began to strike a second time, sounding eight 一打／打撃s. R駭ine の近くにd the 事例／患者 and continued his 査察 without putting his telescope 負かす／撃墜する. A wide arch led from the 製図／抽選-room to a smaller apartment, a sort of smoking-room. This also was furnished, but 含む／封じ込めるd a glass 事例／患者 for guns of which the rack was empty. Hanging on a パネル盤 近づく by was a calendar with the date of the 5th of September.

"Oh," cried Hortense, in astonishment, "the same date as today!...They tore off the leaves until the 5th of September...And this is the 周年記念日! What an astonishing coincidence!"

"Astonishing," he echoed. "It's the 周年記念日 of their 出発...twenty years ago today."

"You must 収容する／認める," she said, "that all this is 理解できない."

"Yes, of course...but, all the same...perhaps not."

"Have you any idea?"

He waited a few seconds before replying:

"What puzzles me is this telescope hidden, dropped in that corner, at the last moment. I wonder what it was used for...From the ground-床に打ち倒す windows you see nothing but the trees in the garden...and the same, I 推定する／予想する, from all the windows...We are in a valley, without the least open horizon...To use the telescope, one would have to go up to the 最高の，を越す of the house...Shall we go up?"

She did not hesitate. The mystery surrounding the whole adventure excited her curiosity so 熱心に that she could think of nothing but …を伴ってing R駭ine and 補助装置ing him in his 調査s.

They went upstairs accordingly, and, on the second 床に打ち倒す, （機の）カム to a 上陸 where they 設立する the spiral staircase 主要な to the belvedere.

At the 最高の，を越す of this was a 壇・綱領・公約 in the open 空気／公表する, but surrounded by a parapet over six feet high.

"There must have been battlements which have been filled in since," 観察するd Prince R駭ine. "Look here, there were （法などの）抜け穴s at one time. They may have been 封鎖するd."

"In any 事例／患者," she said, "the telescope was of no use up here either and we may 同様に go 負かす／撃墜する again."

"I don't agree," he said. "Logic tells us that there must have been some gap through which the country could be seen and this was the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where the telescope was used."

He hoisted himself by his wrists to the 最高の，を越す of the parapet and then saw that this point of vantage 命令（する）d the whole of the valley, 含むing the park, with its tall trees 場内取引員／株価 the horizon; and, beyond, a 不景気 in a 支持を得ようと努めるd surmounting a hill, at a distance of some seven or eight hundred yards, stood another tower, squat and in 廃虚s, covered with ivy from 最高の，を越す to 底（に届く）.

R駭ine 再開するd his 査察. He seemed to consider that the 重要な to the problem lay in the use to which the telescope was put and that the problem would be solved if only they could discover this use.

He 熟考する／考慮するd the （法などの）抜け穴s one after the other. One of them, or rather the place which it had 占領するd, attracted his attention above the 残り／休憩（する）. In the middle of the 層 of plaster, which had served to 封鎖する it, there was a hollow filled with earth in which 工場／植物s had grown. He pulled out the 工場／植物s and 除去するd the earth, thus （疑いを）晴らすing the mouth of a 穴を開ける some five インチs in 直径, which 完全に 侵入するd the 塀で囲む. On bending 今後, R駭ine perceived that this 深い and 狭くする 開始 必然的に carried the 注目する，もくろむ, above the dense 最高の，を越すs of the trees and through the 不景気 in the hill, to the ivy-覆う？ tower.

At the 底（に届く） of this channel, in a sort of groove which ran through it like a gutter, the telescope fitted so 正確に／まさに that it was やめる impossible to 転換 it, however little, either to the 権利 or to the left.

R駭ine, after wiping the outside of the レンズs, while taking care not to 乱す the 嘘（をつく） of the 器具 by a hair's breadth, put his 注目する，もくろむ to the small end.

He remained for thirty or forty seconds, gazing attentively and silently. Then he drew himself up and said, in a husky 発言する／表明する:

"It's terrible...it's really terrible."

"What is?" she asked, anxiously.

"Look."

She bent 負かす／撃墜する but the image was not （疑いを）晴らす to her and the telescope had to be 焦点（を合わせる）d to 控訴 her sight. The next moment she shuddered and said:

"It's two scarecrows, isn't it, both stuck up on the 最高の，を越す? But why?"

"Look again," he said. "Look more carefully under the hats...the 直面するs..."

"Oh!" she cried, turning faint with horror, "how awful!"

The field of the telescope, like the circular picture shown by a 魔法 lantern, 現在のd this spectacle: the 壇・綱領・公約 of a broken tower, the 塀で囲むs of which were higher in the more distant part and formed as it were a 背景, over which 殺到するd waves of ivy. In 前線, まっただ中に a cluster of bushes, were two human 存在s, a man and a woman, leaning 支援する against a heap of fallen 石／投石するs.

But the words man and woman could hardly be 適用するd to these two forms, these two 悪意のある puppets, which, it is true, wore 着せる／賦与するs and hats—or rather shreds of 着せる／賦与するs and 残余s of hats—but had lost their 注目する，もくろむs, their cheeks, their chins, every 粒子 of flesh, until they were 現実に and 前向きに／確かに nothing more than two 骸骨／概要s.

"Two 骸骨／概要s," stammered Hortense. "Two 骸骨／概要s with 着せる／賦与するs on. Who carried them up there?"

"Nobody."

"But still..."

"That man and that woman must have died at the 最高の，を越す of the tower, years and years ago...and their flesh rotted under their 着せる／賦与するs and the ravens ate them."

"But it's hideous, hideous!" cried Hortense, pale as death, her 直面する drawn with horror.

* * *

Half an hour later, Hortense Daniel and R駭ine left the Ch穰eau de Halingre. Before their 出発, they had gone as far as the ivy-grown tower, the remains of an old donjon-keep more than half 破壊するd. The inside was empty. There seemed to have been a way of climbing to the 最高の，を越す, at a comparatively 最近の period, by means of 木造の stairs and ladders which now lay broken and scattered over the ground. The tower 支援するd against the 塀で囲む which 示すd the end of the park.

A curious fact, which surprised Hortense, was that Prince R駭ine had neglected to 追求する a more minute enquiry, as though the 事柄 had lost all 利益／興味 for him. He did not even speak of it any longer; and, in the inn at which they stopped and took a light meal in the nearest village, it was she who asked the landlord about the abandoned ch穰eau. But she learnt nothing from him, for the man was new to the 地区 and could give her no particulars. He did not even know the 指名する of the owner.

They turned their horses' 長，率いるs に向かって La 損なう閊e. Again and again Hortense 解任するd the squalid sight which had met their 注目する，もくろむs. But R駭ine, who was in a lively mood and 十分な of attentions to his companion, seemed utterly indifferent to those questions.

"But, after all," she exclaimed, impatiently, "we can't leave the 事柄 there! It calls for a 解答."

"As you say," he replied, "a 解答 is called for. M. Rossigny has to know where he stands and you have to decide what to do about him."

She shrugged her shoulders: "He's of no importance for the moment. The thing today..."

"Is what?"

"Is to know what those two dead 団体／死体s are."

"Still, Rossigny..."

"Rossigny can wait. But I can't. You have shown me a mystery which is now the only thing that 事柄s. What do you ーするつもりである to do?"

"To do?"

"Yes. There are two 団体／死体s...You'll 知らせる the police, I suppose."

"Gracious goodness!" he exclaimed, laughing. "What for?"

"井戸／弁護士席, there's a riddle that has to be （疑いを）晴らすd up at all costs, a terrible 悲劇."

"We don't need anyone to do that."

"What! Do you mean to say that you understand it?"

"Almost as plainly as though I had read it in a 調書をとる／予約する, told in 十分な 詳細（に述べる）, with explanatory illustrations. It's all so simple!"

She looked at him askance, wondering if he was making fun of her. But he seemed やめる serious.

"井戸／弁護士席?" she asked, quivering with curiosity.

The light was beginning to 病弱な. They had trotted at a good pace; and the 追跡（する） was returning as they 近づくd La 損なう閊e.

"井戸／弁護士席," he said, "we shall get the 残り／休憩（する） of our （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） from people living 一連の会議、交渉／完成する about...from your uncle, for instance; and you will see how 論理（学）上 all the facts fit in. When you 持つ／拘留する the first link of a chain, you are bound, whether you like it or not, to reach the last. It's the greatest fun in the world."

Once in the house, they separated. On going to her room, Hortense 設立する her luggage and a furious letter from Rossigny in which he bade her goodbye and 発表するd his 出発.

Then R駭ine knocked at her door:

"Your uncle is in the library," he said. "Will you go 負かす／撃墜する with me? I've sent word that I am coming."

She went with him. He 追加するd:

"One word more. This morning, when I 妨害するd your 計画（する）s and begged you to 信用 me, I 自然に undertook an 義務 に向かって you which I mean to 実行する without 延期する. I want to give you a 肯定的な proof of this."

She laughed:

"The only 義務 which you took upon yourself was to 満足させる my curiosity."

"It shall be 満足させるd," he 保証するd her, 厳粛に, "and more fully than you can かもしれない imagine."

M. d'Aigleroche was alone. He was smoking his 麻薬を吸う and drinking sherry. He 申し込む／申し出d a glass to R駭ine, who 辞退するd.

"井戸／弁護士席, Hortense!" he said, in a rather 厚い 発言する／表明する. "You know that it's pretty dull here, except in these September days. You must make the most of them. Have you had a pleasant ride with R駭ine?"

"That's just what I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to talk about, my dear sir," interrupted the prince.

"You must excuse me, but I have to go to the 駅／配置する in ten minutes, to 会合，会う a friend of my wife's."

"Oh, ten minutes will be ample!"

"Just the time to smoke a cigarette?"

"No longer."

He took a cigarette from the 事例／患者 which M. d'Aigleroche 手渡すd to him, lit it and said:

"I must tell you that our ride happened to take us to an old domain which you are sure to know, the Domaine de Halingre."

"Certainly I know it. But it has been の近くにd, boarded up for twenty-five years or so. You weren't able to get in, I suppose?"

"Yes, we were."

"Really? Was it 利益／興味ing?"

"極端に. We discovered the strangest things."

"What things?" asked the count, looking at his watch.

R駭ine 述べるd what they had seen:

"On a tower some way from the house there were two dead 団体／死体s, two 骸骨／概要s rather...a man and a woman still wearing the 着せる／賦与するs which they had on when they were 殺人d."

"Come, come, now! 殺人d?"

"Yes; and that is what we have come to trouble you about. The 悲劇 must date 支援する to some twenty years ago. Was nothing known of it at the time?"

"Certainly not," 宣言するd the count. "I never heard of any such 罪，犯罪 or 見えなくなる."

"Oh, really!" said R駭ine, looking a little disappointed. "I hoped to 得る a few particulars."

"I'm sorry."

"In that 事例／患者, I apologise."

He 協議するd Hortense with a ちらりと見ること and moved に向かって the door. But on second thought:

"Could you not at least, my dear sir, bring me into touch with some persons in the neighbourhood, some members of your family, who might know more about it?"

"Of my family? And why?"

"Because the Domaine de Halingre used to belong and no 疑問 still belongs to the d'Aigleroches. The 武器 are an eagle on a heap of 石／投石するs, on a 激しく揺する. This at once 示唆するd the 関係."

This time the count appeared surprised. He 押し進めるd 支援する his decanter and his glass of sherry and said:

"What's this you're telling me? I had no idea that we had any such 隣人s."

R駭ine shook his 長，率いる and smiled:

"I should be more inclined to believe, sir, that you were not very eager to 収容する／認める any 関係 between yourself...and the unknown owner of the 所有物／資産／財産."

"Then he's not a respectable man?"

"The man, to put it plainly, is a 殺害者."

"What do you mean?"

The count had risen from his 議長，司会を務める. Hortense, 大いに excited, said:

"Are you really sure that there has been a 殺人 and that the 殺人 was done by someone belonging to the house?"

"やめる sure."

"But why are you so 確かな ?"

"Because I know who the two 犠牲者s were and what 原因（となる）d them to be killed."

Prince R駭ine was making 非，不，無 but 肯定的な 声明s and his method 示唆するd the belief that he was supported by the strongest proofs.

M. d'Aigleroche strode up and 負かす／撃墜する the room, with his 手渡すs behind his 支援する. He ended by 説:

"I always had an 直感的に feeling that something had happened, but I never tried to find out...Now, as a 事柄 of fact, twenty years ago, a relation of 地雷, a distant cousin, used to live at the Domaine de Halingre. I hoped, because of the 指名する I 耐える, that this story, which, as I say, I never knew but 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd, would remain hidden forever."

"So this cousin killed somebody?"

"Yes, he was 強いるd to."

R駭ine shook his 長，率いる:

"I am sorry to have to 修正する that phrase, my dear sir. The truth, on the contrary, is that your cousin took his 犠牲者s' lives in 冷淡な 血 and in a 臆病な／卑劣な manner. I never heard of a 罪，犯罪 more deliberately and craftily planned."

"What is it that you know?"

The moment had come for R駭ine to explain himself, a solemn and anguish-stricken moment, the 十分な gravity of which Hortense understood, though she had not yet divined any part of the 悲劇 which the prince 広げるd step by step.

"It's a very simple story," he said. "There is every 推論する／理由 to believe that M. d'Aigleroche was married and that there was another couple living in the neighbourhood with whom the owner of the Domaine de Halingre were on friendly 条件. What happened one day, which of these four persons first 乱すd the relations between the two 世帯s, I am unable to say. But a likely 見解／翻訳／版, which at once occurs to the mind, is that your cousin's wife, Madame d'Aigleroche, was in the habit of 会合 the other husband in the ivy-covered tower, which had a door 開始 outside the 広い地所. On discovering the intrigue, your cousin d'Aigleroche 解決するd to be 復讐d, but in such a manner that there should be no スキャンダル and that no one even should ever know that the 有罪の pair had been killed. Now he had ascertained—as I did just now—that there was a part of the house, the belvedere, from which you can see, over the trees and the undulations of the park, the tower standing eight hundred yards away, and that this was the only place that overlooked the 最高の，を越す of the tower. He therefore pierced a 穴を開ける in the parapet, through one of the former （法などの）抜け穴s, and from there, by using a telescope which fitted 正確に／まさに in the grove which he had hollowed out, he watched the 会合s of the two lovers. And it was from there, also, that, after carefully taking all his 測定s, and calculating all his distances, on a Sunday, the 5th of September, when the house was empty, he killed them with two 発射s."

The truth was becoming 明らかな. The light of day was breaking. The count muttered:

"Yes, that's what must have happened. I 推定する／予想する that my cousin d'Aigleroche..."

"The 殺害者," R駭ine continued, "stopped up the （法などの）抜け穴 neatly with a clod of earth. No one would ever know that two dead 団体／死体s were decaying on the 最高の，を越す of that tower which was never visited and of which he took the 警戒 to 破壊する the 木造の stairs. Nothing therefore remained for him to do but to explain the 見えなくなる of his wife and his friend. This 現在のd no difficulty. He （刑事）被告 them of having eloped together."

Hortense gave a start. Suddenly, as though the last 宣告，判決 were a 完全にする and to her an 絶対 予期しない 発覚, she understood what R駭ine was trying to 伝える:

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean that M. d'Aigleroche （刑事）被告 his wife and his friend of eloping together."

"No, no!" she cried. "I can't 許す that!...You are speaking of a cousin of my uncle's? Why mix up the two stories?"

"Why mix up this story with another which took place at that time?" said the prince. "But I am not mixing them up, my dear madame; there is only one story and I am telling it as it happened."

Hortense turned to her uncle. He sat silent, with his 武器 倍のd; and his 長，率いる remained in the 影をつくる／尾行する cast by the lampshade. Why had he not 抗議するd?

R駭ine repeated in a 会社／堅い トン:

"There is only one story. On the evening of that very day, the 5th of September at eight o'clock, M. d'Aigleroche, doubtless 主張するing as his 推論する／理由 that he was going in 追跡 of the runaway couple, left his house after 搭乗 up the 入り口. He went away, leaving all the rooms as they were and 除去するing only the 小火器 from their glass 事例／患者. At the last minute, he had a presentiment, which has been 正当化するd today, that the 発見 of the telescope which had played so 広大な／多数の／重要な a part in the 準備 of his 罪，犯罪 might serve as a 手がかり（を与える） to an enquiry; and he threw it into the clock-事例／患者, where, as luck would have it, it interrupted the swing of the pendulum. This unreflecting 活動／戦闘, one of those which every 犯罪の 必然的に commits, was to betray him twenty years later. Just now, the blows which I struck to 軍隊 the door of the 製図／抽選-room 解放（する）d the pendulum. The clock was 始める，決める going, struck eight o'clock...and I 所有するd the 手がかり（を与える） of thread which was to lead me through the 迷宮／迷路."

"Proofs!" stammered Hortense. "Proofs!"

"Proofs?" replied R駭ine, in a loud 発言する／表明する. "Why, there are any number of proofs; and you know them 同様に as I do. Who could have killed at that distance of eight hundred yards, except an 専門家 発射, an ardent sportsman? You agree, M. d'Aigleroche, do you not?...Proofs? Why was nothing 除去するd from the house, nothing except the guns, those guns which an ardent sportsman cannot afford to leave behind—you agree, M. d'Aigleroche—those guns which we find here, hanging in トロフィーs on the 塀で囲むs!...Proofs? What about that date, the 5th of September, which was the date of the 罪，犯罪 and which has left such a horrible memory in the 犯罪の's mind that every year at this time—at this time alone—he surrounds himself with distractions and that every year, on this same 5th of September, he forgets his habits of temperance? 井戸／弁護士席, today, is the 5th of September...Proofs? Why, if there weren't any others, would that not be enough for you?"

And R駭ine, flinging out his arm, pointed to the Comte d'Aigleroche, who, terrified by this evocation of the past, had sunk 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd into a 議長，司会を務める and was hiding his 長，率いる in his 手渡すs.

Hortense did not 試みる／企てる to argue with him. She had never liked her uncle, or rather her husband's uncle. She now 受託するd the 告訴，告発 laid against him.

Sixty seconds passed. Then M. d'Aigleroche walked up to them and said:

"Whether the story be true or not, you can't call a husband a 犯罪の for avenging his honour and 殺人，大当り his faithless wife."

"No," replied R駭ine, "but I have told only the first 見解／翻訳／版 of the story. There is another which is infinitely more serious...and more probable, one to which a more 徹底的な 調査 would be sure to lead."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean this. It may not be a 事柄 of a husband taking the 法律 into his own 手渡すs, as I charitably supposed. It may be a 事柄 of a 廃虚d man who covets his friend's money and his friend's wife and who, with this 反対する in 見解（をとる）, to 安全な・保証する his freedom, to get rid of his friend and of his own wife, draws them into a 罠（にかける）, 示唆するs to them that they should visit that lonely tower and kills them by 狙撃 them from a distance 安全に under cover."

"No, no," the count 抗議するd. "No, all that is untrue."

"I don't say it isn't. I am basing my 告訴，告発 on proofs, but also on intuitions and arguments which up to now have been 極端に 正確な. All the same, I 収容する／認める that the second 見解／翻訳／版 may be incorrect. But, if so, why feel any 悔恨? One does not feel 悔恨 for punishing 有罪の people.

"One does for taking life. It is a 鎮圧するing 重荷（を負わせる） to 耐える.

"Was it to give himself greater strength to 耐える this 重荷（を負わせる） that M. d'Aigleroche afterwards married his 犠牲者's 未亡人? For that, sir, is the crux of the question. What was the 動機 of that marriage? Was M. d'Aigleroche penniless? Was the woman he was taking as his second wife rich? Or were they both in love with each other and did M. d'Aigleroche 計画（する） with her to kill his first wife and the husband of his second wife? These are problems to which I do not know the answer. They have no 利益／興味 for the moment; but the police, with all the means at their 処分, would have no 広大な／多数の／重要な difficulty in elucidating them."

M. d'Aigleroche staggered and had to 安定した himself against the 支援する of a 議長，司会を務める. Livid in the 直面する, he spluttered:

"Are you going to 知らせる the police?"

"No, no," said R駭ine. "To begin with, there is the 法令 of 制限s. Then there are twenty years of 悔恨 and dread, a memory which will 追求する the 犯罪の to his dying hour, …を伴ってd no 疑問 by 国内の discord, 憎悪, a daily hell...and, in the end, the necessity of returning to the tower and 除去するing the traces of the two 殺人s, the frightful 罰 of climbing that tower, of touching those 骸骨／概要s, of undressing them and burying them. That will be enough. We will not ask for more. We will not give it to the public to batten on and create a スキャンダル which would recoil upon M. d'Aigleroche's niece. No, let us leave this disgraceful 商売／仕事 alone."

The count 再開するd his seat at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, with his 手渡すs clutching his forehead, and asked:

"Then why...?"

"Why do I 干渉する?" said R駭ine. "What you mean is that I must have had some 反対する in speaking. That is so. There must indeed be a 刑罰，罰則, however slight, and our interview must lead to some practical result. But have no 恐れる: M. d'Aigleroche will be let off lightly."

The contest was ended. The count felt that he had only a small 形式順守 to fulfil, a sacrifice to 受託する; and, 回復するing some of his self-保証／確信, he said, in an almost sarcastic トン:

"What's your price?"

R駭ine burst out laughing:

"Splendid! You see the position. Only, you make a mistake in 製図／抽選 me into the 商売／仕事. I'm working for the glory of the thing."

"In that 事例／患者?"

"You will be called upon at most to make restitution."

"Restitution?"

R駭ine leant over the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and said:

"In one of those drawers is a 行為 を待つing your 署名. It is a 草案 協定 between you and your niece Hortense Daniel, relating to her 私的な fortune, which fortune was squandered and for which you are responsible. 調印する the 行為."

M. d'Aigleroche gave a start:

"Do you know the 量?"

"I don't wish to know it."

"And if I 辞退する?..."

"I shall ask to see the Comtesse d'Aigleroche."

Without その上の hesitation, the count opened a drawer, produced a 文書 on stamped paper and quickly 調印するd it:

"Here you are," he said, "and I hope..."

"You hope, as I do, that you and I may never have any 未来 取引? I'm 納得させるd of it. I shall leave this evening; your niece, no 疑問, tomorrow. Goodbye."

* * *

In the 製図／抽選-room, which was still empty, while the guests at the house were dressing for dinner, R駭ine 手渡すd the 行為 to Hortense. She seemed dazed by all that she had heard; and the thing that bewildered her even more than the relentless light shed upon her uncle's past was the miraculous insight and amazing lucidity 陳列する，発揮するd by this man: the man who for some hours had controlled events and conjured up before her 注目する，もくろむs the actual scenes of a 悲劇 which no one had beheld.

"Are you 満足させるd with me?" he asked.

She gave him both her 手渡すs:

"You have saved me from Rossigny. You have given me 支援する my freedom and my independence. I thank you from the 底（に届く） of my heart."

"Oh, that's not what I am asking you to say!" he answered. "My first and main 反対する was to amuse you. Your life seemed so humdrum and 欠如（する）ing in the 予期しない. Has it been so today?"

"How can you ask such a question? I have had the strangest and most stirring experiences."

"That is life," he said. "When one knows how to use one's 注目する，もくろむs. Adventure 存在するs everywhere, in the meanest hovel, under the mask of the wisest of men. Everywhere, if you are only willing, you will find an excuse for excitement, for doing good, for saving a 犠牲者, for ending an 不正."

Impressed by his 力／強力にする and 当局, she murmured:

"Who are you 正確に／まさに?"

"An adventurer. Nothing more. A lover of adventures. Life is not 価値（がある） living except in moments of adventure, the adventures of others or personal adventures. Today's has upset you because it 影響する／感情d the innermost depths of your 存在. But those of others are no いっそう少なく 刺激するing. Would you like to make the 実験?"

"How?"

"Become the companion of my adventures. If anyone calls on me for help, help him with me. If chance or instinct puts me on the 跡をつける of a 罪，犯罪 or the trace of a 悲しみ, let us both 始める，決める out together. Do you 同意?"

"Yes," she said, "but..."

She hesitated, as though trying to guess R駭ine's secret 意向s.

"But," he said, 表明するing her thoughts for her, with a smile, "you are a trifle 懐疑的な. What you are 説 to yourself is, 'How far does that lover of adventures want to make me go? It is やめる obvious that I attract him; and sooner or later he would not be sorry to receive 支払い（額） for his services.' You are やめる 権利. We must have a formal 契約."

"Very formal," said Hortense, preferring to give a jesting トン to the conversation. "Let me hear your 提案s."

He 反映するd for a moment and continued:

"井戸／弁護士席, we'll say this. The clock at Halingre gave eight 一打／打撃s this afternoon, the day of the first adventure. Will you 受託する its 法令 and agree to carry out seven more of these delightful 企業s with me, during a period, for instance, of three months? And shall we say that, at the eighth, you will be 誓約（する）d to 認める me..."

"What?"

He deferred his answer:

"観察する that you will always be at liberty to leave me on the road if I do not 後継する in 利益／興味ing you. But, if you …を伴って me to the end, if you 許す me to begin and 完全にする the eighth 企業 with you, in three months, on the 5th of December, at the very moment when the eighth 一打／打撃 of that clock sounds—and it will sound, you may be sure of that, for the old 厚かましさ／高級将校連 pendulum will not stop swinging again—you will be 誓約（する）d to 認める me..."

"What?" she repeated, a little unnerved by waiting.

He was silent. He looked at the beautiful lips which he had meant to （人命などを）奪う，主張する as his reward. He felt perfectly 確かな that Hortense had understood and he thought it unnecessary to speak more plainly:

"The mere delight of seeing you will be enough to 満足させる me. It is not for me but for you to 課す 条件s. 指名する them: what do you 需要・要求する?"

She was 感謝する for his 尊敬（する）・点 and said, laughingly:

"What do I 需要・要求する?"

"Yes."

"Can I 需要・要求する anything I like, however difficult and impossible?"

"Everything is 平易な and everything is possible to the man who is bent on winning you."

Then she said:

"I 需要・要求する that you shall 回復する to me a small, antique clasp, made of a cornelian 始める，決める in a silver 開始する. It （機の）カム to me from my mother and everyone knew that it used to bring her happiness and me too. Since the day when it 消えるd from my jewel-事例／患者, I have had nothing but unhappiness. 回復する it to me, my good genius."

"When was the clasp stolen?"

She answered gaily:

"Seven years ago...or eight...or nine; I don't know 正確に／まさに...I don't know where...I don't know how...I know nothing about it..."

"I will find it," R駭ine 宣言するd, "and you shall be happy."

2. The Water-瓶／封じ込める

Four days after she had settled 負かす／撃墜する in Paris, Hortense Daniel agreed to 会合，会う Prince R駭ine in the Bois. It was a glorious morning and they sat 負かす／撃墜する on the terrace of the Restaurant Imp駻ial, a little to one 味方する.

Hortense, feeling glad to be alive, was in a playful mood, 十分な of attractive grace. R駭ine, lest he should startle her, 差し控えるd from alluding to the compact into which they had entered at his suggestion. She told him how she had left La 損なう閊e and said that she had not heard of Rossigny.

"I have," said R駭ine. "I've heard of him."

"Oh?"

"Yes, he sent me a challenge. We fought a duel this morning. Rossigny got a scratch in the shoulder. That finished the duel. Let's talk of something else."

There was no その上の について言及する of Rossigny. R駭ine at once expounded to Hortense the 計画（する） of two 企業s which he had in 見解（をとる） and in which he 申し込む／申し出d, with no 広大な／多数の／重要な enthusiasm, to let her 株:

"The finest adventure," he 宣言するd, "is that which we do not 予知する. It comes 突然に, unannounced; and no one, save the 始めるd, realizes that an 適切な時期 to 行為／法令／行動する and to expend one's energies is の近くに at 手渡す. It has to be 掴むd at once. A moment's hesitation may mean that we are too late. We are 警告するd by a special sense, like that of a sleuthhound which distinguishes the 権利 scent from all the others that cross it."

The terrace was beginning to fill up around them. At the next （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する sat a young man reading a newspaper. They were able to see his insignificant profile and his long, dark moustache. From behind them, through an open window of the restaurant, （機の）カム the distant 緊張するs of a 禁止（する）d; in one of the rooms a few couples were dancing.

As R駭ine was 支払う／賃金ing for the refreshments, the young man with the long moustache stifled a cry and, in a choking 発言する／表明する, called one of the waiters:

"What do I 借りがある you?...No change? Oh, good Lord, hurry up!"

R駭ine, without a moment's hesitation, had 選ぶd up the paper. After casting a swift ちらりと見ること 負かす／撃墜する the page, he read, under his breath:

"Ma?re Dourdens, the counsel for the defence in the 裁判，公判 of Jacques Aubrieux, has been received at the Élys馥. We are 知らせるd that the 大統領 of the 共和国 has 辞退するd to （死）刑の執行猶予（をする） the 非難するd man and that the 死刑執行 will take place tomorrow morning."

After crossing the terrace, the young man 設立する himself 直面するd, at the 入り口 to the garden, by a lady and gentleman who 封鎖するd his way; and the latter said:

"Excuse me, sir, but I noticed your agitation. It's about Jacques Aubrieux, isn't it?"

"Yes, yes, Jacques Aubrieux," the young man stammered. "Jacques, the friend of my childhood. I'm hurrying to see his wife. She must be beside herself with grief."

"Can I 申し込む／申し出 you my 援助? I am Prince R駭ine. This lady and I would be happy to call on Madame Aubrieux and to place our services at her 処分."

The young man, upset by the news which he had read, seemed not to understand. He introduced himself awkwardly:

"My 指名する is Dutreuil, Gaston Dutreuil."

R駭ine beckoned to his chauffeur, who was waiting at some little distance, and 押し進めるd Gaston Dutreuil into the car, asking:

"What 演説（する）／住所? Where does Madame Aubrieux live?"

"23 bis, Avenue du Roule."

After helping Hortense in, R駭ine repeated the 演説（する）／住所 to the chauffeur and, as soon as they drove off, tried to question Gaston Dutreuil:

"I know very little of the 事例／患者," he said. "Tell it to me as 簡潔に as you can. Jacques Aubrieux killed one of his 近づく relations, didn't he?"

"He is innocent, sir," replied the young man, who seemed incapable of giving the least explanation. "Innocent, I 断言する it. I've been Jacques' friend for twenty years...He is innocent...and it would be monstrous..."

There was nothing to be got out of him. Besides, it was only a short 運動. They entered Neuilly through the Porte des Sablons and, two minutes later, stopped before a long, 狭くする passage between high 塀で囲むs which led them to a small, one-storeyed house.

Gaston Dutreuil rang.

"Madame is in the 製図／抽選-room, with her mother," said the maid who opened the door.

"I'll go in to the ladies," he said, taking R駭ine and Hortense with him.

It was a fair-sized, prettily-furnished room, which, in ordinary times, must have been used also as a 熟考する／考慮する. Two women sat weeping, one of whom, 年輩の and grey-haired, （機の）カム up to Gaston Dutreuil. He explained the 推論する／理由 for R駭ine's presence and she at once cried, まっただ中に her sobs:

"My daughter's husband is innocent, sir. Jacques? A better man never lived. He was so good-hearted! 殺人 his cousin? But he worshipped his cousin! I 断言する that he's not 有罪の, sir! And they are going to commit the infamy of putting him to death? Oh, sir, it will kill my daughter!"

R駭ine realized that all these people had been living for months under the obsession of that innocence and in the certainty that an innocent man could never be 遂行する／発効させるd. The news of the 死刑執行, which was now 必然的な, was 運動ing them mad.

He went up to a poor creature bent in two whose 直面する, a やめる young 直面する, でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd in pretty, flaxen hair, was convulsed with desperate grief. Hortense, who had already taken a seat beside her, gently drew her 長，率いる against her shoulder. R駭ine said to her:

"Madame, I do not know what I can do for you. But I give you my word of honour that, if anyone in this world can be of use to you, it is myself. I therefore implore you to answer my questions as though the （疑いを）晴らす and 限定された 言い回し of your replies were able to alter the 面 of things and as though you wished to make me 株 your opinion of Jacques Aubrieux. For he is innocent, is he not?"

"Oh, sir, indeed he is!" she exclaimed; and the woman's whole soul was in the words.

"You are 確かな of it. But you were unable to communicate your certainty to the 法廷，裁判所. 井戸／弁護士席, you must now 強要する me to 株 it. I am not asking you to go into 詳細（に述べる）s and to live again through the hideous torment which you have 苦しむd, but 単に to answer 確かな questions. Will you do this?"

"I will."

R駭ine's 影響（力） over her was 完全にする. With a few 宣告，判決s R駭ine had 後継するd in subduing her and 奮起させるing her with the will to obey. And once more Hortense realized all the man's 力／強力にする, 当局 and 説得／派閥.

"What was your husband?" he asked, after begging the mother and Gaston Dutreuil to 保存する 絶対の silence.

"An 保険-仲買人."

"Lucky in 商売／仕事?"

"Until last year, yes."

"So there have been 財政上の difficulties during the past few months?"

"Yes."

"And the 殺人 was committed when?"

"Last March, on a Sunday."

"Who was the 犠牲者?"

"A distant cousin, M. Guillaume, who lived at Suresnes."

"What was the sum stolen?"

"Sixty thousand-フラン 公式文書，認めるs, which this cousin had received the day before, in 支払い（額） of a long-優れた 負債."

"Did your husband know that?"

"Yes. His cousin told him of it on the Sunday, in the course of a conversation on the telephone, and Jacques 主張するd that his cousin ought not to keep so large a sum in the house and that he せねばならない 支払う／賃金 it into a bank next day."

"Was this in the morning?"

"At one o'clock in the afternoon. Jacques was to have gone to M. Guillaume on his motorcycle. But he felt tired and told him that he would not go out. So he remained here all day."

"Alone?"

"Yes. The two servants were out. I went to the Cin駑a des Ternes with my mother and our friend Dutreuil. In the evening, we learnt that M. Guillaume had been 殺人d. Next morning, Jacques was 逮捕（する）d."

"On what 証拠?"

The poor creature hesitated to reply: the 証拠 of 犯罪 had evidently been 圧倒的な. Then, obeying a 調印する from R駭ine, she answered without a pause:

"The 殺害者 went to Suresnes on a motorcycle and the 跡をつけるs discovered were those of my husband's machine. They 設立する a handkerchief with my husband's 初期のs; and the revolver which was used belonged to him. Lastly, one of our 隣人s 持続するs that he saw my husband go out on his bicycle at three o'clock and another that he saw him come in at half-past four. The 殺人 was committed at four o'clock."

"And what does Jacques Aubrieux say in his defence?"

"He 宣言するs that he slept all the afternoon. During that time, someone （機の）カム who managed to 打ち明ける the cycle-shed and take the motorcycle to go to Suresnes. As for the handkerchief and the revolver, they were in the 道具-捕らえる、獲得する. There would be nothing surprising in the 殺害者's using them."

"It seems a plausible explanation."

"Yes, but the 起訴 raised two 反対s. In the first place, nobody, 絶対 nobody, knew that my husband was going to stay at home all day, because, on the contrary, it was his habit to go out on his motorcycle every Sunday afternoon."

"And the second 反対?"

She 紅潮／摘発するd and murmured:

"The 殺害者 went to the pantry at M. Guillaume's and drank half a 瓶／封じ込める of ワイン straight out of the 瓶／封じ込める, which shows my husband's 指紋s."

It seemed as though her strength was exhausted and as though, at the same time, the unconscious hope which R駭ine's 介入 had awakened in her had suddenly 消えるd before the accumulation of 逆の facts. Again she 崩壊（する）d, 孤立した into a sort of silent meditation from which Hortense's affectionate attentions were unable to distract her.

The mother stammered:

"He's not 有罪の, is he, sir? And they can't punish an innocent man. They 港／避難所't the 権利 to kill my daughter. Oh dear, oh dear, what have we done to be 拷問d like this? My poor little Madeleine!"

"She will kill herself," said Dutreuil, in a 脅すd 発言する／表明する. "She will never be able to 耐える the idea that they are guillotining Jacques. She will kill herself presently...this very night..."

R駭ine was striding up and 負かす／撃墜する the room.

"You can do nothing for her, can you?" asked Hortense.

"It's half-past eleven now," he replied, in an anxious トン, "and it's to happen tomorrow morning."

"Do you think he's 有罪の?"

"I don't know...I don't know...The poor woman's 有罪の判決 is too impressive to be neglected. When two people have lived together for years, they can hardly be mistaken about each other to that degree. And yet..."

He stretched himself out on a sofa and lit a cigarette. He smoked three in succession, without a word from anyone to interrupt his train of thought. From time to time he looked at his watch. Every minute was of such importance!

At last he went 支援する to Madeleine Aubrieux, took her 手渡すs and said, very gently:

"You must not kill yourself. There is hope left until the last minute has come; and I 約束 you that, for my part, I will not be disheartened until that last minute. But I need your calmness and your 信用／信任."

"I will be 静める," she said, with a pitiable 空気／公表する.

"And 確信して?"

"And 確信して."

"井戸／弁護士席, wait for me. I shall be 支援する in two hours from now. Will you come with us, M. Dutreuil?"

As they were stepping into his car, he asked the young man:

"Do you know any small, unfrequented restaurant, not too far inside Paris?"

"There's the Brasserie Lutetia, on the ground-床に打ち倒す of the house in which I live, on the Place des Ternes."

"資本／首都. That will be very handy."

They scarcely spoke on the way. R駭ine, however, said to Gaston Dutreuil:

"So far as I remember, the numbers of the 公式文書，認めるs are known, aren't they?"

"Yes. M. Guillaume had entered the sixty numbers in his pocketbook."

R駭ine muttered, a moment later:

"That's where the whole problem lies. Where are the 公式文書，認めるs? If we could lay our 手渡すs on them, we should know everything."

At the Brasserie Lutetia there was a telephone in the 私的な room where he asked to have lunch served. When the waiter had left him alone with Hortense and Dutreuil, he took 負かす／撃墜する the receiver with a resolute 空気／公表する:

"Hullo!...県 of police, please...Hullo! Hullo!...Is that the 県 of police? Please put me on to the 犯罪の 調査 department. I have a very important communication to make. You can say it's Prince R駭ine."

持つ／拘留するing the receiver in his 手渡す, he turned to Gaston Dutreuil:

"I can ask someone to come here, I suppose? We shall be やめる undisturbed?"

"やめる."

He listened again:

"The 長官 to the 長，率いる of the 犯罪の 調査 department? Oh, excellent! Mr. 長官, I have on several occasions been in communication with M. Dudouis and have given him （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） which has been of 広大な／多数の／重要な use to him. He is sure to remember Prince R駭ine. I may be able today to show him where the sixty thousand-フラン 公式文書，認めるs are hidden which Aubrieux the 殺害者 stole from his cousin. If he's 利益／興味d in the 提案, beg him to send an 視察官 to the Brasserie Lutetia, Place des Ternes. I shall be there with a lady and M. Dutreuil, Aubrieux's friend. Good day, Mr. 長官."

When R駭ine hung up the 器具, he saw the amazed 直面するs of Hortense and of Gaston Dutreuil 直面するing him.

Hortense whispered:

"Then you know? You've discovered...?"

"Nothing," he said, laughing.

"井戸／弁護士席?"

"井戸／弁護士席, I'm 事実上の／代理 as though I knew. It's not a bad method. Let's have some lunch, shall we?"

The clock 示すd a ４半期/4分の1 to one.

"The man from the 県 will be here," he said, "in twenty minutes at 最新の."

"And if no one comes?" Hortense 反対するd.

"That would surprise me. Of course, if I had sent a message to M. Dudouis 説, 'Aubrieux is innocent,' I should have failed to make any impression. It's not the least use, on the eve of an 死刑執行, to 試みる／企てる to 納得させる the gentry of the police or of the 法律 that a man 非難するd to death is innocent. No. From henceforth Jacques Aubrieux belongs to the executioner. But the prospect of 安全な・保証するing the sixty banknotes is a windfall 価値（がある） taking a little trouble over. Just think: that was the weak point in the 起訴，告発, those sixty 公式文書，認めるs which they were unable to trace."

"But, as you know nothing of their どの辺に..."

"My dear girl—I hope you don't mind my calling you so—my dear girl, when a man can't explain this or that physical 現象, he 可決する・採択するs some sort of theory which explains the さまざまな manifestations of the 現象 and says that everything happened as though the theory were 訂正する. That's what I am doing."

"That 量s to 説 that you are going upon a supposition?"

R駭ine did not reply. Not until some time later, when lunch was over, did he say:

"明白に I am going upon a supposition. If I had several days before me, I should take the trouble of first 立証するing my theory, which is based upon intuition やめる as much as upon a few scattered facts. But I have only two hours; and I am 乗る，着手するing on the unknown path as though I were 確かな that it would lead me to the truth."

"And suppose you are wrong?"

"I have no choice. Besides, it is too late. There's a knock. Oh, one word more! Whatever I may say, don't 否定する me. Nor you, M. Dutreuil."

He opened the door. A thin man, with a red 皇室の, entered:

"Prince R駭ine?"

"Yes, sir. You, of course, are from M. Dudouis?"

"Yes."

And the newcomer gave his 指名する:

"長，指導者-視察官 Morisseau."

"I am 強いるd to you for coming so 敏速に, Mr. 長，指導者-視察官," said Prince R駭ine, "and I hope that M. Dudouis will not 悔いる having placed you at my 処分."

"At your entire 処分, in 新規加入 to two 視察官s whom I have left in the square outside and who have been in the 事例／患者, with me, from the first."

"I shall not 拘留する you for any length of time," said R駭ine, "and I will not even ask you to sit 負かす／撃墜する. We have only a few minutes in which to settle everything. You know what it's all about?"

"The sixty thousand-フラン 公式文書，認めるs stolen from M. Guillaume. I have the numbers here."

R駭ine ran his 注目する，もくろむs 負かす／撃墜する the slip of paper which the 長，指導者-視察官 手渡すd him and said:

"That's 権利. The two 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）s agree."

視察官 Morisseau seemed 大いに excited:

"The 長，指導者 大（公）使館員s the greatest importance to your 発見. So you will be able to show me?..."

R駭ine was silent for a moment and then 宣言するd:

"Mr. 長，指導者-視察官, a personal 調査—and a most exhaustive 調査 it was, as I will explain to you presently—has 明らかにする／漏らすd the fact that, on his return from Suresnes, the 殺害者, after 取って代わるing the motorcycle in the shed in the Avenue du Roule, ran to the Ternes and entered this house."

"This house?"

"Yes."

"But what did he come here for?"

"To hide the proceeds of his 窃盗, the sixty banknotes."

"How do you mean? Where?"

"In a flat of which he had the 重要な, on the fifth 床に打ち倒す."

Gaston Dutreuil exclaimed, in amazement:

"But there's only one flat on the fifth 床に打ち倒す and that's the one I live in!"

"正確に／まさに; and, as you were at the cinema with Madame Aubrieux and her mother, advantage was taken of your absence..."

"Impossible! No one has the 重要な except myself."

"One can get in without a 重要な."

"But I have seen no 示すs of any 肉親，親類d."

Morisseau 介入するd:

"Come, let us understand one another. You say the banknotes were hidden in M. Dutreuil's flat?"

"Yes."

"Then, as Jacques Aubrieux was 逮捕（する）d the next morning, the 公式文書，認めるs せねばならない be there still?"

"That's my opinion."

Gaston Dutreuil could not help laughing:

"But that's absurd! I should have 設立する them!"

"Did you look for them?"

"No. But I should have come across them at any moment. The place isn't big enough to swing a cat in. Would you care to see it?"

"However small it may be, it's large enough to 持つ／拘留する sixty bits of paper."

"Of course, everything is possible," said Dutreuil. "Still, I must repeat that nobody, to my knowledge, has been to my rooms; that there is only one 重要な; that I am my own housekeeper; and that I can't やめる understand..."

Hortense too could not understand. With her 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on Prince R駭ine's, she was trying to read his innermost thoughts. What game was he playing? Was it her 義務 to support his 声明s? She ended by 説:

"Mr. 長，指導者-視察官, since Prince R駭ine 持続するs that the 公式文書，認めるs have been put away upstairs, wouldn't the simplest thing be to go and look? M. Dutreuil will take us up, won't you?"

"This minute," said the young man. "As you say, that will be simplest."

They all four climbed the five storys of the house and, after Dutreuil had opened the door, entered a tiny 始める，決める of 議会s consisting of a sitting-room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom, all arranged with fastidious neatness. It was 平易な to see that every 議長，司会を務める in the sitting-room 占領するd a 限定された place. The 麻薬を吸うs had a rack to themselves; so had the matches. Three walking-sticks, arranged によれば their length, hung from three nails. On a little （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する before the window a hatbox, filled with tissue-paper, を待つd the felt hat which Dutreuil carefully placed in it. He laid his gloves beside it, on the lid.

He did all this with sedate and mechanical movements, like a man who loves to see things in the places which he has chosen for them. Indeed, no sooner did R駭ine 転換 something than Dutreuil made a slight gesture of 抗議する, took out his hat again, stuck it on his 長，率いる, opened the window and 残り／休憩（する）d his 肘s on the sill, with his 支援する turned to the room, as though he were unable to 耐える the sight of such vandalism.

"You're 肯定的な, are you not?" the 視察官 asked R駭ine.

"Yes, yes, I'm 肯定的な that the sixty 公式文書，認めるs were brought here after the 殺人."

"Let's look for them."

This was 平易な and soon done. In half an hour, not a corner remained unexplored, not a knickknack unlifted.

"Nothing," said 視察官 Morisseau. "Shall we continue?"

"No," replied R駭ine, "The 公式文書，認めるs are no longer here."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that they have been 除去するd."

"By whom? Can't you make a more 限定された 告訴，告発?"

R駭ine did not reply. But Gaston Dutreuil wheeled 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. He was choking and spluttered:

"Mr. 視察官, would you like me to make the 告訴，告発 more 限定された, as 伝えるd by this gentleman's 発言／述べるs? It all means that there's a dishonest man here, that the 公式文書，認めるs hidden by the 殺害者 were discovered and stolen by that dishonest man and deposited in another and safer place. That is your idea, sir, is it not? And you 告発する／非難する me of committing this 窃盗 don't you?"

He （機の）カム 今後, drumming his chest with his 握りこぶしs: "Me! Me! I 設立する the 公式文書，認めるs, did I, and kept them for myself? You dare to 示唆する that!"

R駭ine still made no reply. Dutreuil flew into a 激怒（する） and, taking 視察官 Morisseau aside, exclaimed:

"Mr. 視察官, I 堅固に 抗議する against all this farce and against the part which you are unconsciously playing in it. Before your arrival, Prince R駭ine told this lady and myself that he knew nothing, that he was 投機・賭けるing into this 事件／事情／状勢 at 無作為の and that he was に引き続いて the first road that 申し込む／申し出d, 信用ing to luck. Do you 否定する it, sir?"

R駭ine did not open his lips.

"Answer me, will you? Explain yourself; for, really, you are putting 今後 the most improbable facts without any proof whatever. It's 平易な enough to say that I stole the 公式文書，認めるs. And how were you to know that they were here at all? Who brought them here? Why should the 殺害者 choose this flat to hide them in? It's all so stupid, so illogical and absurd!...Give us your proofs, sir...one 選び出す／独身 proof!"

視察官 Morisseau seemed perplexed. He questioned R駭ine with a ちらりと見ること. R駭ine said:

"Since you want 明確な／細部 詳細（に述べる）s, we will get them from Madame Aubrieux herself. She's on the telephone. Let's go downstairs. We shall know all about it in a minute."

Dutreuil shrugged his shoulders:

"As you please; but what a waste of time!"

He seemed 大いに irritated. His long wait at the window, under a 炎ing sun, had thrown him into a sweat. He went to his bedroom and returned with a 瓶／封じ込める of water, of which he took a few sips, afterwards placing the 瓶／封じ込める on the windowsill:

"Come along," he said.

Prince R駭ine chuckled.

"You seem to be in a hurry to leave the place."

"I'm in a hurry to show you up," retorted Dutreuil, slamming the door.

They went downstairs to the 私的な room 含む／封じ込めるing the telephone. The room was empty. R駭ine asked Gaston Dutreuil for the Aubrieuxs' number, took 負かす／撃墜する the 器具 and was put through.

The maid who （機の）カム to the telephone answered that Madame Aubrieux had fainted, after giving way to an 接近 of despair, and that she was now asleep.

"Fetch her mother, please. Prince R駭ine speaking. It's 緊急の."

He 手渡すd the second receiver to Morisseau. For that 事柄, the 発言する／表明するs were so 際立った that Dutreuil and Hortense were able to hear every word 交流d.

"Is that you, madame?"

"Yes. Prince R駭ine, I believe?"

"Prince R駭ine."

"Oh, sir, what news have you for me? Is there any hope?" asked the old lady, in a トン of entreaty.

"The enquiry is 訴訟／進行 very satisfactorily," said R駭ine, "and you may hope for the best. For the moment, I want you to give me some very important particulars. On the day of the 殺人, did Gaston Dutreuil come to your house?"

"Yes, he （機の）カム to fetch my daughter and myself, after lunch."

"Did he know at the time that M. Guillaume had sixty thousand フランs at his place?"

"Yes, I told him."

"And that Jacques Aubrieux was not feeling very 井戸／弁護士席 and was 提案するing not to take his usual cycle-ride but to stay at home and sleep?"

"Yes."

"You are sure?"

"絶対 確かな ."

"And you all three went to the cinema together?"

"Yes."

"And you were all sitting together?"

"Oh, no! There was no room. He took a seat さらに先に away."

"A seat where you could see him?"

"No."

"But he （機の）カム to you during the interval?"

"No, we did not see him until we were going out."

"There is no 疑問 of that?"

"非，不，無 at all."

"Very 井戸／弁護士席, madame. I will tell you the result of my 成果／努力s in an hour's time. But above all, don't wake up Madame Aubrieux."

"And suppose she wakes of her own （許可，名誉などを）与える?"

"安心させる her and give her 信用／信任. Everything is going 井戸／弁護士席, very 井戸／弁護士席 indeed."

He hung up the receiver and turned to Dutreuil, laughing:

"Ha, ha, my boy! Things are beginning to look clearer. What do you say?"

It was difficult to tell what these words meant or what 結論s R駭ine had drawn from his conversation. The silence was painful and oppressive.

"Mr. 長，指導者-視察官, you have some of your men outside, 港／避難所't you?"

"Two 探偵，刑事-sergeants."

"It's important that they should be there. Please also ask the 経営者／支配人 not to 乱す us on any account."

And, when Morisseau returned, R駭ine の近くにd the door, took his stand in 前線 of Dutreuil and, speaking in a good-humoured but emphatic トン, said:

"It 量s to this, young man, that the ladies saw nothing of you between three and five o'clock on that Sunday. That's rather a curious 詳細（に述べる）."

"A perfectly natural 詳細（に述べる）," Dutreuil retorted, "and one, moreover, which 証明するs nothing at all."

"It 証明するs, young man, that you had a good two hours at your 処分."

"明白に. Two hours which I spent at the cinema."

"Or somewhere else."

Dutreuil looked at him:

"Somewhere else?"

"Yes. As you were 解放する／自由な, you had plenty of time to go wherever you liked...to Suresnes, for instance."

"Oh!" said the young man, jesting in his turn. "Suresnes is a long way off!"

"It's やめる の近くに! Hadn't you your friend Jacques Aubrieux's motorcycle?"

A fresh pause followed these words. Dutreuil had knitted his brows as though he were trying to understand. At last he was heard to whisper:

"So that is what he was trying to lead up to!...The brute!..."

R駭ine brought 負かす／撃墜する his 手渡す on Dutreuil's shoulder:

"No more talk! Facts! Gaston Dutreuil, you are the only person who on that day knew two 必須の things: first, that Cousin Guillaume had sixty thousand フランs in his house; secondly, that Jacques Aubrieux was not going out. You at once saw your chance. The motorcycle was 利用できる. You slipped out during the 業績／成果. You went to Suresnes. You killed Cousin Guillaume. You took the sixty banknotes and left them at your rooms. And at five o'clock you went 支援する to fetch the ladies."

Dutreuil had listened with an 表現 at once mocking and flurried, casting an 時折の ちらりと見ること at 視察官 Morisseau as though to enlist him as a 証言，証人／目撃する:

"The man's mad," it seemed to say. "It's no use 存在 angry with him."

When R駭ine had finished, he began to laugh:

"Very funny!...A 資本／首都 joke!...So it was I whom the 隣人s saw going and returning on the motorcycle?"

"It was you disguised in Jacques Aubrieux's 着せる／賦与するs."

"And it was my 指紋s that were 設立する on the 瓶／封じ込める in M. Guillaume's pantry?"

"The 瓶／封じ込める had been opened by Jacques Aubrieux at lunch, in his own house, and it was you who took it with you to serve as 証拠."

"Funnier and funnier!" cried Dutreuil, who had the 空気／公表する of 存在 率直に amused. "Then I contrived the whole 事件／事情／状勢 so that Jacques Aubrieux might be （刑事）被告 of the 罪，犯罪?"

"It was the safest means of not 存在 （刑事）被告 yourself."

"Yes, but Jacques is a friend whom I have known from childhood."

"You're in love with his wife."

The young man gave a sudden, infuriated start:

"You dare!...What! You dare make such an 悪名高い suggestion?"

"I have proof of it."

"That's a 嘘（をつく）! I have always 尊敬（する）・点d Madeleine Aubrieux and 深い尊敬の念を抱くd her..."

"明らかに. But you're in love with her. You 願望（する） her. Don't 否定する me. I have abundant proof of it."

"That's a 嘘（をつく）, I tell you! You have only known me a few hours!"

"Come, come! I've been 静かに watching you for days, waiting for the moment to pounce upon you."

He took the young man by the shoulders and shook him:

"Come, Dutreuil, 自白する! I 持つ／拘留する all the proofs in my 手渡す. I have 証言，証人／目撃するs whom we shall 会合，会う presently at the 犯罪の 調査 department. 自白する, can't you? In spite of everything, you're 拷問d by 悔恨. Remember your 狼狽, at the restaurant, when you had seen the newspaper. What? Jacques Aubrieux 非難するd to die? That's more than you 取引d for! Penal servitude would have ふさわしい your 調書をとる／予約する; but the scaffold!...Jacques Aubrieux 遂行する／発効させるd tomorrow, an innocent man!...自白する, won't you? 自白する to save your own 肌! Own up!"

Bending over the other, he was trying with all his might to だまし取る a 自白 from him. But Dutreuil drew himself up and coldly, with a sort of 軽蔑（する） in his 発言する／表明する, said:

"Sir, you are a madman. Not a word that you have said has any sense in it. All your 告訴，告発s are 誤った. What about the banknotes? Did you find them at my place as you said you would?"

R駭ine, exasperated, clenched his 握りこぶし in his 直面する:

"Oh, you swine, I'll dish you yet, I 断言する I will!"

He drew the 視察官 aside:

"井戸／弁護士席, what do you say to it? An arrant rogue, isn't he?"

The 視察官 nodded his 長，率いる:

"It may be...But, all the same...so far there's no real 証拠."

"Wait, M. Morisseau," said R駭ine. "Wait until we've had our interview with M. Dudouis. For we shall see M. Dudouis at the 県, shall we not?"

"Yes, he'll be there at three o'clock."

"井戸／弁護士席, you'll be 納得させるd, Mr. 視察官! I tell you here and now that you will be 納得させるd."

R駭ine was chuckling like a man who feels 確かな of the course of events. Hortense, who was standing 近づく him and was able to speak to him without 存在 heard by the others, asked, in a low 発言する／表明する:

"You've got him, 港／避難所't you?"

He nodded his 長，率いる in assent:

"Got him? I should think I have! All the same, I'm no さらに先に 今後 than I was at the beginning."

"But this is awful! And your proofs?"

"Not the 影をつくる／尾行する of a proof...I was hoping to trip him up. But he's kept his feet, the rascal!"

"Still, you're 確かな it's he?"

"It can't be anyone else. I had an intuition at the very 手始め; and I've not taken my 注目する，もくろむs off him since. I have seen his 苦悩 増加するing as my 調査s seemed to centre on him and 関心 him more closely. Now I know."

"And he's in love with Madame Aubrieux?"

"In logic, he's bound to be. But so far we have only hypothetical suppositions, or rather certainties which are personal to myself. We shall never 迎撃する the guillotine with those. Ah, if we could only find the banknotes! Given the banknotes, M. Dudouis would 行為／法令／行動する. Without them, he will laugh in my 直面する."

"What then?" murmured Hortense, in anguished accents.

He did not reply. He walked up and 負かす／撃墜する the room, assuming an 空気／公表する of gaiety and rubbing his 手渡すs. All was going so 井戸／弁護士席! It was really a 扱う／治療する to （問題を）取り上げる a 事例／患者 which, so to speak, worked itself out automatically.

"Suppose we went on to the 県, M. Morisseau? The 長，指導者 must be there by now. And, having gone so far, we may 同様に finish. Will M. Dutreuil come with us?"

"Why not?" said Dutreuil, arrogantly.

But, just as R駭ine was 開始 the door, there was a noise in the passage and the 経営者／支配人 ran up, waving his 武器:

"Is M. Dutreuil still here?... M. Dutreuil, your flat is on 解雇する／砲火／射撃!...A man outside told us. He saw it from the square."

The young man's 注目する，もくろむs lit up. For perhaps half a second his mouth was 新たな展開d by a smile which R駭ine noticed:

"Oh, you ruffian!" he cried. "You've given yourself away, my beauty! It was you who 始める，決める 解雇する／砲火／射撃 to the place upstairs; and now the 公式文書，認めるs are 燃やすing."

He 封鎖するd his 出口.

"Let me pass," shouted Dutreuil. "There's a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and no one can get in, because no one else has a 重要な. Here it is. Let me pass, damn it!"

R駭ine snatched the 重要な from his 手渡す and, 持つ／拘留するing him by the collar of his coat:

"Don't you move, my 罰金 fellow! The game's up! You precious blackguard! M. Morisseau, will you give orders to the sergeant not to let him out of his sight and to blow out his brains if he tries to get away? Sergeant, we rely on you! Put a 弾丸 into him, if necessary!..."

He hurried up the stairs, followed by Hortense and the 長，指導者 視察官, who was 抗議するing rather peevishly:

"But, I say, look here, it wasn't he who 始める，決める the place on 解雇する／砲火／射撃! How do you make out that he 始める，決める it on 解雇する／砲火／射撃, seeing that he never left us?"

"Why, he 始める，決める it on 解雇する／砲火／射撃 beforehand, to be sure!"

"How? I ask you, how?"

"How do I know? But a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 doesn't 勃発する like that, for no 推論する／理由 at all, at the very moment when a man wants to 燃やす 妥協ing papers."

They heard a commotion upstairs. It was the waiters of the restaurant trying to burst the door open. An acrid smell filled the 井戸／弁護士席 of the staircase.

R駭ine reached the 最高の，を越す 床に打ち倒す:

"By your leave, friends. I have the 重要な."

He 挿入するd it in the lock and opened the door.

He was met by a gust of smoke so dense that one might 井戸／弁護士席 have supposed the whole 床に打ち倒す to be 燃えて. R駭ine at once saw that the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 had gone out of its own （許可，名誉などを）与える, for 欠如（する） of 燃料, and that there were no more 炎上s:

"M. Morisseau, you won't let anyone come in with us, will you? An 侵入者 might spoil everything. Bolt the door, that will be best."

He stepped into the 前線 room, where the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 had 明白に had its 長，指導者 centre. The furniture, the 塀で囲むs and the 天井, though blackened by the smoke, had not been touched. As a 事柄 of fact, the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 was 限定するd to a 炎 of papers which was still 燃やすing in the middle of the room, in 前線 of the window.

R駭ine struck his forehead:

"What a fool I am! What an unspeakable ass!"

"Why?" asked the 視察官.

"The hatbox, of course! The cardboard hatbox which was standing on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. That's where he hid the 公式文書，認めるs. They were there all through our search."

"Impossible!"

"Why, yes, we always overlook that particular hiding-place, the one just under our 注目する，もくろむs, within reach of our 手渡すs! How could one imagine that a どろぼう would leave sixty thousand フランs in an open cardboard box, in which he places his hat when he comes in, with an absentminded 空気／公表する? That's just the one place we don't look in...井戸／弁護士席 played, M. Dutreuil!"

The 視察官, who remained incredulous, repeated:

"No, no, impossible! We were with him and he could not have started the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 himself."

"Everything was 用意が出来ている beforehand on the supposition that there might be an alarm...The hatbox...the tissue paper...the banknotes: they must all have been 法外なd in some inflammable liquid. He must have thrown a match, a 化学製品 準備 or whatnot into it, as we were leaving."

"But we should have seen him, hang it all! And then is it 信頼できる that a man who has committed a 殺人 for the sake of sixty thousand フランs should do away with the money in this way? If the hiding-place was such a good one—and it was, because we never discovered it—why this useless 破壊?"

"He got 脅すd, M. Morisseau. Remember that his 長，率いる is at 火刑／賭ける and he knows it. Anything rather than the guillotine; and they—the banknotes—were the only proof which we had against him. How could he have left them where they were?"

Morisseau was flabbergasted:

"What! The only proof?"

"Why, 明白に!"

"But your 証言，証人／目撃するs? Your 証拠? All that you were going to tell the 長，指導者?"

"Mere bluff."

"井戸／弁護士席, upon my word," growled the bewildered 視察官, "you're a 冷静な／正味の 顧客!"

"Would you have taken 活動／戦闘 without my bluff?"

"No."

"Then what more do you want?"

R駭ine stooped to 動かす the ashes. But there was nothing left, not even those 残余s of stiff paper which still 保持する their 形態／調整.

"Nothing," he said. "It's queer, all the same! How the ジュース did he manage to 始める，決める the thing alight?"

He stood up, looking attentively about him. Hortense had a feeling that he was making his 最高の 成果／努力 and that, after this last struggle in the dark, he would either have 工夫するd his 計画（する） of victory or 収容する／認める that he was beaten.

滞るing with 苦悩, she asked:

"It's all up, isn't it?"

"No, no," he said, thoughtfully, "it's not all up. It was, a few seconds ago. But now there is a gleam of light...and one that gives me hope."

"God 認める that it may be 正当化するd!"

"We must go slowly," he said. "It is only an 試みる／企てる, but a 罰金, a very 罰金 試みる／企てる; and it may 後継する."

He was silent for a moment; then, with an amused smile and a click of the tongue, he said:

"An infernally clever fellow, that Dutreuil! His trick of 燃やすing the 公式文書，認めるs: what a fertile imagination! And what coolness! A pretty dance the beggar has led me! He's a master!"

He fetched a broom from the kitchen and swept a part of the ashes into the next room, returning with a hatbox of the same size and 外見 as the one which had been burnt. After crumpling the tissue paper with which it was filled, he placed the hatbox on the little （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and 始める，決める 解雇する／砲火／射撃 to it with a match.

It burst into 炎上s, which he 消滅させるd when they had 消費するd half the cardboard and nearly all the paper. Then he took from an inner pocket of his waistcoat a bundle of banknotes and selected six, which he burnt almost 完全に, arranging the remains and hiding the 残り／休憩（する） of the 公式文書，認めるs at the 底（に届く） of the box, の中で the ashes and the blackened bits of paper:

"M. Morisseau," he said, when he had done, "I am asking for your 援助 for the last time. Go and fetch Dutreuil. Tell him just this: 'You are unmasked. The 公式文書，認めるs did not catch 解雇する／砲火／射撃. Come with me.' And bring him up here."

にもかかわらず his hesitation and his 恐れる of 越えるing his 指示／教授／教育s from the 長，率いる of the 探偵，刑事 service, the 長，指導者-視察官 was 権力のない to throw off the ascendancy which R駭ine had acquired over him. He left the room.

R駭ine turned to Hortense:

"Do you understand my 計画（する） of 戦う／戦い?"

"Yes," she said, "but it's a dangerous 実験. Do you think that Dutreuil will 落ちる into the 罠（にかける）?"

"Everything depends on the 明言する／公表する of his 神経s and the degree of demoralization to which he is 減ずるd. A surprise attack may very 井戸／弁護士席 do for him."

"にもかかわらず, suppose he 認めるs by some 調印する that the box has been changed?"

"Oh, of course, he has a few chances in his favour! The fellow is much more cunning than I thought and やめる 有能な of wriggling out of the 罠（にかける）. On the other 手渡す, however, how uneasy he must be! How the 血 must be buzzing in his ears and obscuring his sight! No, I don't think that he will 避ける the 罠（にかける）...He will give in...He will give in..."

They 交流d no more words. R駭ine did not move. Hortense was stirred to the very depths of her 存在. The life of an innocent man hung trembling in the balance. An error of judgment, a little bad luck...and, twelve hours later, Jacques Aubrieux would be put to death. And together with a horrible anguish she experienced, in spite of all, a feeling of eager curiosity. What was Prince R駭ine going to do? What would be the 結果 of the 実験 on which he was 投機・賭けるing? What 抵抗 would Gaston Dutreuil 申し込む／申し出? She lived through one of those minutes of superhuman 緊張 in which life becomes 強めるd until it reaches its 最大の value.

They heard footsteps on the stairs, the footsteps of men in a hurry. The sound drew nearer. They were reaching the 最高の，を越す 床に打ち倒す.

Hortense looked at her companion. He had stood up and was listening, his features already transfigured by 活動／戦闘. The footsteps were now echoing in the passage. Then, suddenly, he ran to the door and cried:

"Quick! Let's make an end of it!"

Two or three 探偵，刑事s and a couple of waiters entered. He caught 持つ／拘留する of Dutreuil in the 中央 of the 探偵，刑事s and pulled him by the arm, gaily exclaiming:

"井戸／弁護士席 done, old man! That trick of yours with the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and the water-瓶／封じ込める was really splendid! A masterpiece, on my word! Only, it didn't come off!"

"What do you mean? What's the 事柄?" mumbled Gaston Dutreuil, staggering.

"What I say: the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 burnt only half the tissue-paper and the hatbox; and, though some of the banknotes were destroyed, like the tissue-paper, the others are there, at the 底（に届く）...You understand? The long-sought 公式文書，認めるs, the 広大な／多数の／重要な proof of the 殺人: they're there, where you hid them...As chance would have it, they've escaped 燃やすing...Here, look: there are the numbers; you can check them...Oh, you're done for, done for, my beauty!"

The young man drew himself up stiffly. His eyelids quivered. He did not 受託する R駭ine's 招待 to look; he 診察するd neither the hatbox nor the banknotes. From the first moment, without taking the time to 反映する and before his instinct could 警告する him, he believed what he was told and 崩壊（する）d ひどく into a 議長，司会を務める, weeping.

The surprise attack, to use R駭ine's 表現, had 後継するd. On seeing all his 計画（する）s baffled and the enemy master of his secrets, the wretched man had neither the strength nor the perspicacity necessary to defend himself. He threw up the sponge.

R駭ine gave him no time to breathe:

"資本／首都! You're saving your 長，率いる; and that's all, my good 青年! 令状 負かす／撃墜する your 自白 and get it off your chest. Here's a fountain-pen...The luck has been against you, I 収容する／認める. It was devilishly 井戸／弁護士席 thought out, your trick of the last moment. You had the banknotes which were in your way and which you 手配中の，お尋ね者 to destroy. Nothing simpler. You take a big, 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-bellied water-瓶／封じ込める and stand it on the windowsill. It 行為／法令／行動するs as a 燃やすing-glass, concentrating the rays of the sun on the cardboard and tissue-paper, all nicely 用意が出来ている. Ten minutes later, it bursts into 炎上s. A splendid idea! And, like all 広大な／多数の／重要な 発見s, it （機の）カム やめる by chance, what? It reminds one of Newton's apple...One day, the sun, passing through the water in that 瓶／封じ込める, must have 始める，決める 解雇する／砲火／射撃 to a 捨てる of cotton or the 長，率いる of a match; and, as you had the sun at your 処分 just now, you said to yourself, 'Now's the time,' and stood the 瓶／封じ込める in the 権利 position. My congratulations, Gaston!...Look, here's a sheet of paper. 令状 負かす／撃墜する: 'It was I who 殺人d M. Guillaume.' 令状, I tell you!"

Leaning over the young man, with all his implacable 軍隊 of will he compelled him to 令状, guiding his 手渡す and dictating the 宣告，判決s. Dutreuil, exhausted, at the end of his strength, wrote as he was told.

"Here's the 自白, Mr. 長，指導者-視察官," said R駭ine. "You will be good enough to take it to M. Dudouis. These gentlemen," turning to the waiters, from the restaurant, "will, I am sure, 同意 to serve as 証言，証人／目撃するs."

And, seeing that Dutreuil, 圧倒するd by what had happened, did not move, he gave him a shake:

"Hi, you, look alive! Now that you've been fool enough to 自白する, make an end of the 職業, my gentle idiot!"

The other watched him, standing in 前線 of him.

"明白に," R駭ine continued, "you're only a simpleton. The hatbox was 公正に／かなり burnt to ashes: so were the 公式文書，認めるs. That hatbox, my dear fellow, is a different one; and those 公式文書，認めるs belong to me. I even burnt six of them to make you swallow the stunt. And you couldn't make out what had happened. What an フクロウ you must be! To furnish me with 証拠 at the last moment, when I hadn't a 選び出す／独身 proof of my own! And such 証拠! A written 自白! Written before 証言，証人／目撃するs!...Look here, my man, if they do 削減（する） off your 長，率いる—as I 心から hope they will—upon my word, you'll have jolly 井戸／弁護士席 deserved it! Goodbye, Dutreuil!"

Downstairs, in the street, R駭ine asked Hortense Daniel to take the car, go to Madeleine Aubrieux and tell her what had happened.

"And you?" asked Hortense.

"I have a lot to do...緊急の 任命s..."

"And you 否定する yourself the 楽しみ of bringing the good news?"

"It's one of the 楽しみs that 棺／かげり upon one. The only 楽しみ that never 旗s is that of the fight itself. Afterwards, things 中止する to be 利益／興味ing."

She took his 手渡す and for a moment held it in both her own. She would have liked to 表明する all her 賞賛 to that strange man, who seemed to do good as a sort of game and who did it with something like genius. But she was unable to speak. All these 早い 出来事/事件s had upset her. Emotion constricted her throat and brought the 涙／ほころびs to her 注目する，もくろむs.

R駭ine 屈服するd his 長，率いる, 説:

"Thank you. I have my reward."

3. The 事例／患者 of ジーンズ Louis

"Monsieur," continued the young girl, 演説（する）／住所ing Serge R駭ine, "it was while I was spending the 復活祭 holidays at Nice with my father that I made the 知識 of ジーンズ Louis d'Imbleval..."

R駭ine interrupted her:

"Excuse me, mademoiselle, but just now you spoke of this young man as ジーンズ Louis Vaurois."

"That's his 指名する also," she said.

"Has he two 指名するs then?"

"I don't know...I don't know anything about it," she said, with some 当惑, "and that is why, by Hortense's advice, I （機の）カム to ask for your help."

This conversation was taking place in R駭ine's flat on the Boulevard Haussmann, to which Hortense had brought her friend Genevi钁e Aymard, a slender, pretty little creature with a 直面する 影を投げかけるd by an 表現 of the greatest melancholy.

"R駭ine will be successful, take my word for it, Genevi钁e. You will, R駭ine, won't you?"

"Please tell me the 残り／休憩（する） of the story, mademoiselle," he said.

Genevi钁e continued:

"I was already engaged at the time to a man whom I loathe and detest. My father was trying to 軍隊 me to marry him and is still trying to do so. ジーンズ Louis and I felt the keenest sympathy for each other, a sympathy that soon developed into a 深遠な and 熱烈な affection which, I can 保証する you, was 平等に sincere on both 味方するs. On my return to Paris, ジーンズ Louis, who lives in the country with his mother and his aunt, took rooms in our part of the town; and, as I am 許すd to go out by myself, we used to see each other daily. I need not tell you that we were engaged to be married. I told my father so. And this is what he said: 'I don't 特に like the fellow. But, whether it's he or another, what I want is that you should get married. So let him come and ask for your 手渡す. If not, you must do as I say.' In the middle of June, ジーンズ Louis went home to arrange 事柄s with his mother and aunt. I received some 熱烈な letters; and then just these few words:

There are too many 障害s in the way of our happiness. I give up. I am mad with despair. I love you more than ever. Goodbye and 許す me.

"Since then, I have received nothing: no reply to my letters and 電報電信s."

"Perhaps he has fallen in love with somebody else?" asked R駭ine. "Or there may be some old 関係 which he is unable to shake off."

Genevi钁e shook her 長，率いる:

"Monsieur, believe me, if our 約束／交戦 had been broken off for an ordinary 推論する／理由, I should not have 許すd Hortense to trouble you. But it is something やめる different, I am 絶対 納得させるd. There's a mystery in ジーンズ Louis' life, or rather an endless number of mysteries which 妨害する and 追求する him. I never saw such 苦しめる in a human 直面する; and, from the first moment of our 会合, I was conscious in him of a grief and melancholy which have always 固執するd, even at times when he was giving himself to our love with the greatest 信用／信任."

"But your impression must have been 確認するd by minor 詳細（に述べる）s, by things which happened to strike you as peculiar?"

"I don't やめる know what to say."

"These two 指名するs, for instance?"

"Yes, there was certainly that."

"By what 指名する did he introduce himself to you?"

"ジーンズ Louis d'Imbleval."

"But ジーンズ Louis Vaurois?"

"That's what my father calls him."

"Why?"

"Because that was how he was introduced to my father, at Nice, by a gentleman who knew him. Besides, he carries visiting-cards which 述べる him under either 指名する."

"Have you never questioned him on this point?"

"Yes, I have, twice. The first time, he said that his aunt's 指名する was Vaurois and his mother's d'Imbleval."

"And the second time?"

"He told me the contrary: he spoke of his mother as Vaurois and of his aunt as d'Imbleval. I pointed this out. He coloured up and I thought it better not to question him any その上の."

"Does he live far from Paris?"

"権利 負かす／撃墜する in Brittany: at the Manoir d'Elseven, five miles from Carhaix."

R駭ine rose and asked the girl, 本気で:

"Are you やめる 確かな that he loves you, mademoiselle?"

"I am 確かな of it and I know too that he 代表するs all my life and all my happiness. He alone can save me. If he can't, then I shall be married in a week's time to a man whom I hate. I have 約束d my father; and the banns have been published."

"We shall leave for Carhaix, Madame Daniel and I, this evening," said R駭ine.

That evening he and Hortense took the train for Brittany. They reached Carhaix at ten o'clock in the morning; and, after lunch, at half past twelve o'clock they stepped into a car borrowed from a 主要な 居住（者） of the 地区.

* * *

"You're looking a little pale, my dear," said R駭ine, with a laugh, as they alighted by the gate of the garden at Elseven.

"I'm very fond of Genevi钁e," she said. "She's the only friend I have. And I'm feeling 脅すd."

He called her attention to the fact that the central gate was 側面に位置するd by two wickets 耐えるing the 指名するs of Madame d'Imbleval and Madame Vaurois それぞれ. Each of these wickets opened on a 狭くする path which ran の中で the shrubberies of box and aucuba to the left and 権利 of the main avenue. The avenue itself led to an old manor-house, long, low and picturesque, but 供給するd with two clumsily-built, ugly wings, each in a different style of architecture and each forming the 目的地 of one of the 味方する-paths. Madame d'Imbleval evidently lived on the left and Madame Vaurois on the 権利.

Hortense and R駭ine listened. Shrill, 迅速な 発言する／表明するs were 論争ing inside the house. The sound （機の）カム through one of the windows of the ground-床に打ち倒す, which was level with the garden and covered throughout its length with red creepers and white roses.

"We can't go any さらに先に," said Hortense. "It would be indiscreet."

"All the more 推論する／理由," whispered R駭ine. "Look here: if we walk straight ahead, we shan't be seen by the people who are quarrelling."

The sounds of 衝突 were by no means abating; and, when they reached the window next to the 前線-door, through the roses and creepers they could both see and hear two old ladies shrieking at the 最高の，を越すs of their 発言する／表明するs and shaking their 握りこぶしs at each other.

The women were standing in the foreground, in a large dining-room where the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する was not yet （疑いを）晴らすd; and at the さらに先に 味方する of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する sat a young man, doubtless ジーンズ Louis himself, smoking his 麻薬を吸う and reading a newspaper, without appearing to trouble about the two old harridans.

One of these, a thin, tall woman, was wearing a purple silk dress; and her hair was dressed in a 集まり of curls much too yellow for the 荒廃させるd 直面する around which they 宙返り／暴落するd. The other, who was still thinner, but やめる short, was bustling 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the room in a cotton dressing-gown and 陳列する，発揮するd a red, painted 直面する 炎ing with 怒り／怒る:

"A baggage, that's what you are!" she yelped. "The wickedest woman in the world and a どろぼう into the 取引!"

"I, a どろぼう!" 叫び声をあげるd the other.

"What about that 商売／仕事 with the ducks at ten フランs apiece: don't you call that thieving?"

"持つ／拘留する your tongue, you low creature! Who stole the fifty-フラン 公式文書，認める from my dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する? Lord, that I should have to live with such a wretch!"

The other started with fury at the 乱暴／暴力を加える and, 演説（する）／住所ing the young man, cried:

"ジーンズ, are you going to sit there and let me be 侮辱d by your hussy of a d'Imbleval?"

And the tall one retorted, furiously:

"Hussy! Do you hear that, Louis? Look at her, your Vaurois! She's got the 空気／公表するs of a superannuated barmaid! Make her stop, can't you?"

Suddenly ジーンズ Louis banged his 握りこぶし upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, making the plates and dishes jump, and shouted:

"Be 静かな, both of you, you old lunatics!"

They turned upon him at once and 負担d him with 乱用:

"Coward!...Hypocrite!...Liar!...A pretty sort of son you are!...The son of a slut and not much better yourself!..."

The 侮辱s rained 負かす／撃墜する upon him. He stopped his ears with his fingers and writhed as he sat at （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する like a man who has lost all patience and has need to 抑制する himself lest he should 落ちる upon his enemy.

R駭ine whispered:

"Now's the time to go in."

"In の中で all those infuriated people?" 抗議するd Hortense.

"正確に／まさに. We shall see them better with their masks off."

And, with a 決定するd step, he walked to the door, opened it and entered the room, followed by Hortense.

His advent gave rise to a feeling of stupefaction. The two women stopped yelling, but were still scarlet in the 直面する and trembling with 激怒（する）. ジーンズ Louis, who was very pale, stood up.

利益（をあげる）ing by the general 混乱, R駭ine said briskly:

"許す me to introduce myself. I am Prince R駭ine. This is Madame Daniel. We are friends of Mlle. Genevi钁e Aymard and we have come in her 指名する. I have a letter from her 演説（する）／住所d to you, monsieur."

ジーンズ Louis, already disconcerted by the newcomers' arrival, lost countenance 完全に on 審理，公聴会 the 指名する of Genevi钁e. Without やめる knowing what he was 説 and with the 意向 of 答える／応じるing to R駭ine's courteous behaviour, he tried in his turn to introduce the two ladies and let 落ちる the astounding words:

"My mother, Madame d'Imbleval; my mother, Madame Vaurois."

For some time no one spoke. R駭ine 屈服するd. Hortense did not know with whom she should shake 手渡すs, with Madame d'Imbleval, the mother, or with Madame Vaurois, the mother. But what happened was that Madame d'Imbleval and Madame Vaurois both at the same time 試みる／企てるd to snatch the letter which R駭ine was 持つ／拘留するing out to ジーンズ Louis, while both at the same time mumbled:

"Mlle. Aymard!...She has had the coolness...she has had the audacity...!"

Then ジーンズ Louis, 回復するing his self-所有／入手, laid 持つ／拘留する of his mother d'Imbleval and 押し進めるd her out of the room by a door on the left and next of his mother Vaurois and 押し進めるd her out of the room by a door on the 権利. Then, returning to his two 訪問者s, he opened the envelope and read, in an undertone:

I am to be married in a week, ジーンズ Louis. Come to my 救助（する）, I beseech you. My friend Hortense and Prince R駭ine will help you to 打ち勝つ the 障害s that baffle you. 信用 them. I love you.

Genevi钁e.

He was a rather dull-looking young man, whose very swarthy, lean and bony 直面する certainly bore the 表現 of melancholy and 苦しめる 述べるd by Genevi钁e. Indeed, the 示すs of 苦しむing were 明白な in all his 悩ますd features, 同様に as in his sad and anxious 注目する，もくろむs.

He repeated Genevi钁e's 指名する over and over again, while looking about him with a distracted 空気／公表する. He seemed to be 捜し出すing a course of 行為／行う.

He seemed on the point of 申し込む／申し出ing an explanation but could find nothing to say. The sudden 介入 had taken him at a disadvantage, like an unforseen attack which he did not know how to 会合，会う.

R駭ine felt that the adversary would capitulate at the first 召喚するs. The man had been fighting so 猛烈に during the last few months and had 苦しむd so 厳しく in the 退職 and obstinate silence in which he had taken 避難 that he was not thinking of defending himself. Moreover, how could he do so, now that they had 軍隊d their way into the privacy of his 嫌悪すべき 存在?

"Take my word for it, monsieur," 宣言するd R駭ine, "that it is in your best 利益／興味s to confide in us. We are Genevi钁e Aymard's friends. Do not hesitate to speak."

"I can hardly hesitate," he said, "after what you have just heard. This is the life I lead, monsieur. I will tell you the whole secret, so that you may tell it to Genevi钁e. She will then understand why I have not gone 支援する to her...and why I have not the 権利 to do so."

He 押し進めるd a 議長，司会を務める 今後 for Hortense. The two men sat 負かす／撃墜する, and, without any need of その上の 説得／派閥, rather as though he himself felt a 確かな 救済 in unburdening himself, he said:

"You must not be surprised, monsieur, if I tell my story with a 確かな flippancy, for, as a 事柄 of fact, it is a 率直に comical story and cannot fail to make you laugh. 運命／宿命 often amuses itself by playing these imbecile tricks, these monstrous farces which seem as though they must have been invented by the brain of a madman or a drunkard. 裁判官 for yourself. Twenty-seven years ago, the Manoir d'Elseven, which at that time consisted only of the main building, was 占領するd by an old doctor who, to 増加する his modest means, used to receive one or two 支払う／賃金ing guests. In this way, Madame d'Imbleval spent the summer here one year and Madame Vaurois the に引き続いて summer. Now these two ladies did not know each other. One of them was married to a Breton of a merchant-大型船 and the other to a 商業の traveller from the Vend馥.

"It so happened that they lost their husbands at the same time, at a period when each of them was 推定する／予想するing a baby. And, as they both lived in the country, at places some distance from any town, they wrote to the old doctor that they ーするつもりであるd to come to his house for their confinement...He agreed. They arrived almost on the same day, in the autumn. Two small bedrooms were 用意が出来ている for them, behind the room in which we are sitting. The doctor had engaged a nurse, who slept in this very room. Everything was perfectly 満足な. The ladies were putting the finishing touches to their baby-着せる／賦与するs and were getting on together splendidly. They were 決定するd that their children should be boys and had chosen the 指名するs of ジーンズ and Louis それぞれ...One evening the doctor was called out to a 事例／患者 and drove off in his gig with the manservant, 説 that he would not be 支援する till next day. In her master's absence, a little girl who served as maid-of-all-work ran out to keep company with her sweetheart. These 事故s 運命 turned to account with diabolical malignity. At about midnight, Madame d'Imbleval was 掴むd with the first 苦痛s. The nurse, Mlle. Boussignol, had had some training as a midwife and did not lose her 長，率いる. But, an hour later, Madame Vaurois' turn （機の）カム; and the 悲劇, or I might rather say the tragicomedy, was 制定するd まっただ中に the 叫び声をあげるs and moans of the two 患者s and the bewildered agitation of the nurse running from one to the other, bewailing her 運命／宿命, 開始 the window to call out for the doctor or 落ちるing on her 膝s to implore the 援助（する） of Providence...Madame Vaurois was the first to bring a son into the world. Mlle. Boussignol hurriedly carried him in here, washed and tended him and laid him in the cradle 用意が出来ている for him...But Madame d'Imbleval was 叫び声をあげるing with 苦痛; and the nurse had to …に出席する to her while the newborn child was yelling like a stuck pig and the terrified mother, unable to 動かす from her bed, fainted...追加する to this all the wretchedness of 不明瞭 and disorder, the only lamp, without any oil, for the servant had neglected to fill it, the candles 燃やすing out, the moaning of the 勝利，勝つd, the screeching of the フクロウs, and you will understand that Mlle. Boussignol was 脅すd out of her wits. However, at five o'clock in the morning, after many 悲劇の 出来事/事件s, she （機の）カム in here with the d'Imbleval baby, likewise a boy, washed and tended him, laid him in his cradle and went off to help Madame Vaurois, who had come to herself and was crying out, while Madame d'Imbleval had fainted in her turn. And, when Mlle. Boussignol, having settled the two mothers, but half-crazed with 疲労，（軍の）雑役, her brain in a whirl, returned to the newborn children, she realized with horror that she had wrapped them in 類似の binders, thrust their feet into 類似の woolen socks and laid them both, 味方する by 味方する, in the same cradle, so that it was impossible to tell Louis d'Imbleval from ジーンズ Vaurois!...To make 事柄s worse, when she 解除するd one of them out of the cradle, she 設立する that his 手渡すs were 冷淡な as ice and that he had 中止するd to breathe. He was dead. What was his 指名する and what the 生存者's?...Three hours later, the doctor 設立する the two women in a 条件 of frenzied delirium, while the nurse was dragging herself from one bed to the other, entreating the two mothers to 許す her. She held me out first to one, then to the other, to receive their caresses—for I was the 生き残るing child—and they first kissed me and then 押し進めるd me away; for, after all, who was I? The son of the 未亡人d Madame d'Imbleval and the late merchant-captain or the son of the 未亡人d Madame Vaurois and the late 商業の traveller? There was not a 手がかり（を与える） by which they could tell...The doctor begged each of the two mothers to sacrifice her 権利s, at least from the 合法的な point of 見解（をとる）, so that I might be called either Louis d'Imbleval or ジーンズ Vaurois. They 辞退するd 絶対. 'Why ジーンズ Vaurois, if he's a d'Imbleval?' 抗議するd the one. 'Why Louis d'Imbleval, if he's a Vaurois?' retorted the other. And I was 登録（する）d under the 指名する of ジーンズ Louis, the son of an unknown father and mother."

Prince R駭ine had listened in silence. But Hortense, as the story approached its 結論, had given way to a hilarity which she could no longer 抑制する and suddenly, in spite of all her 成果／努力s, she burst into a fit of the wildest laughter:

"許す me," she said, her 注目する，もくろむs filled with 涙／ほころびs, "do 許す me; it's too much for my 神経s..."

"Don't わびる, madame," said the young man, gently, in a 発言する／表明する 解放する／自由な from 憤慨. "I 警告するd you that my story was laughable; I, better than anyone, know how absurd, how nonsensical it is. Yes, the whole thing is perfectly grotesque. But believe me when I tell you that it was no fun in reality. It seems a humorous 状況／情勢 and it remains humorous by the 軍隊 of circumstances; but it is also horrible. You can see that for yourself, can't you? The two mothers, neither of whom was 確かな of 存在 a mother, but neither of whom was 確かな that she was not one, both clung to ジーンズ Louis. He might be a stranger; on the other 手渡す, he might be their own flesh and 血. They loved him to 超過 and fought for him furiously. And, above all, they both （機の）カム to hate each other with a deadly 憎悪. 異なるing 完全に in character and education and 強いるd to live together because neither was willing to forego the advantage of her possible maternity, they lived the life of irreconcilable enemies who can never lay their 武器s aside...I grew up in the 中央 of this 憎悪 and had it instilled into me by both of them. When my childish heart, hungering for affection, inclined me to one of them, the other would 捜し出す to 奮起させる me with loathing and contempt for her. In this manor-house, which they bought on the old doctor's death and to which they 追加するd the two wings, I was the involuntary torturer and their daily 犠牲者. Tormented as a child, and, as a young man, 主要な the most hideous of lives, I 疑問 if anyone on earth ever 苦しむd more than I did."

"You せねばならない have left them!" exclaimed Hortense, who had stopped laughing.

"One can't leave one's mother; and one of those two women was my mother. And a woman can't abandon her son; and each of them was する権利を与えるd to believe that I was her son. We were all three chained together like 罪人／有罪を宣告するs, with chains of 悲しみ, compassion, 疑問 and also of hope that the truth might one day become 明らかな. And here we still are, all three, 侮辱ing one another and 非難するing one another for our wasted lives. Oh, what a hell! And there was no escaping it. I tried often enough...but in vain. The broken 社債s became tied again. Only this summer, under the 刺激 of my love for Genevi钁e, I tried to 解放する／自由な myself and did my 最大の to 説得する the two women whom I call mother. And then...and then! I was up against their （民事の）告訴s, their 即座の 憎悪 of the wife, of the stranger, whom I was 提案するing to 軍隊 upon them...I gave way. What sort of a life would Genevi钁e have had here, between Madame d'Imbleval and Madame Vaurois? I had no 権利 to victimize her."

ジーンズ Louis, who had been 徐々に becoming excited, uttered these last words in a 会社／堅い 発言する／表明する, as though he would have wished his 行為／行う to be ascribed to conscientious 動機s and a sense of 義務. In reality, as R駭ine and Hortense 明確に saw, his was an 異常に weak nature, incapable of 反応するing against a ridiculous position from which he had 苦しむd ever since he was a child and which he had come to look upon as final and irremediable. He 耐えるd it as a man 耐えるs a cross which he has no 権利 to cast aside; and at the same time he was ashamed of it. He had never spoken of it to Genevi钁e, from dread of ridicule; and afterwards, on returning to his 刑務所，拘置所, he had remained there out of habit and 証拠不十分.

He sat 負かす／撃墜する to a 令状ing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and quickly wrote a letter which he 手渡すd to R駭ine:

"Would you be 肉親，親類d enough to give this 公式文書，認める to Mlle. Aymard and beg her once more to 許す me?"

R駭ine did not move and, when the other 圧力（をかける）d the letter upon him, he took it and tore it up.

"What does this mean?" asked the young man.

"It means that I will not 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 myself with any message."

"Why?"

"Because you are coming with us."

"I?"

"Yes. You will see Mlle. Aymard tomorrow and ask for her 手渡す in marriage."

ジーンズ Louis looked at R駭ine with a rather disdainful 空気／公表する, as though he were thinking:

"Here's a man who has not understood a word of what I've been explaining to him."

But Hortense went up to R駭ine:

"Why do you say that?"

"Because it will be as I say."

"But you must have your 推論する／理由s?"

"One only; but it will be enough, 供給するd this gentleman is so 肉親，親類d as to help me in my enquiries."

"Enquiries? With what 反対する?" asked the young man.

"With the 反対する of 証明するing that your story is not やめる 正確な."

ジーンズ Louis took umbrage at this:

"I must ask you to believe, monsieur, that I have not said a word which is not the exact truth."

"I 表明するd myself 不正に," said R駭ine, with 広大な／多数の／重要な kindliness. "Certainly you have not said a word that does not agree with what you believe to be the exact truth. But the truth is not, cannot be what you believe it to be."

The young man 倍のd his 武器:

"In any 事例／患者, monsieur, it seems likely that I should know the truth better than you do."

"Why better? What happened on that 悲劇の night can 明白に be known to you only at secondhand. You have no proofs. Neither have Madame d'Imbleval and Madame Vaurois."

"No proofs of what?" exclaimed ジーンズ Louis, losing patience.

"No proofs of the 混乱 that took place."

"What! Why, it's an 絶対の certainty! The two children were laid in the same cradle, with no 示すs to distinguish one from the other; and the nurse was unable to tell..."

"At least, that's her 見解／翻訳／版 of it," interrupted R駭ine.

"What's that? Her 見解／翻訳／版? But you're 告発する／非難するing the woman."

"I'm 告発する／非難するing her of nothing."

"Yes, you are: you're 告発する／非難するing her of lying. And why should she 嘘（をつく）? She had no 利益／興味 in doing so; and her 涙／ほころびs and despair are so much 証拠 of her good 約束. For, after all, the two mothers were there...they saw the woman weeping...they questioned her...And then, I repeat, what 利益／興味 had she...?"

ジーンズ Louis was 大いに excited. の近くに beside him, Madame d'Imbleval and Madame Vaurois, who had no 疑問 been listening behind the doors and who had stealthily entered the room, stood stammering, in amazement:

"No, no...it's impossible...We've questioned her over and over again. Why should she tell a 嘘（をつく）?..."

"Speak, monsieur, speak," ジーンズ Louis enjoined. "Explain yourself. Give your 推論する／理由s for trying to cast 疑問 upon an 絶対の truth!"

"Because that truth is 認容できない," 宣言するd R駭ine, raising his 発言する／表明する and growing excited in turn to the point of punctuating his 発言／述べるs by 強くたたくing the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. "No, things don't happen like that. No, 運命／宿命 does not 陳列する，発揮する those refinements of cruelty and chance is not 追加するd to chance with such 無謀な extravagance! It was already an 前例のない chance that, on the very night on which the doctor, his manservant and his maid were out of the house, the two ladies should be 掴むd with 労働-苦痛s at the same hour and should bring two sons into the world at the same time. Don't let us 追加する a still more exceptional event! Enough of the uncanny! Enough of lamps that go out and candles that 辞退する to 燃やす! No and again no, it is not admissable that a midwife should become 混乱させるd in the 必須の 詳細（に述べる）s of her 貿易（する）. However bewildered she may be by the unforeseen nature of the circumstances, a 残余 of instinct is still on the 警報, so that there is a place 用意が出来ている for each child and each is kept 際立った from the other. The first child is here, the second is there. Even if they are lying 味方する by 味方する, one is on the left and the other on the 権利. Even if they are wrapped in the same 肉親，親類d of binders, some little 詳細（に述べる） 異なるs, a trifle which is 記録，記録的な／記録するd by the memory and which is 必然的に 解任するd to the mind without any need of reflection. 混乱? I 辞退する to believe in it. Impossible to tell one from the other? It isn't true. In the world of fiction, yes, one can imagine all sorts of fantastic 事故s and heap contradiction on contradiction. But, in the world of reality, at the very heart of reality, there is always a 直す／買収する，八百長をするd point, a solid 核, about which the facts group themselves in 一致 with a 論理（学）の order. I therefore 宣言する most 前向きに／確かに that Nurse Boussignol could not have mixed up the two children."

All this he said decisively, as though he had been 現在の during the night in question; and so 広大な／多数の／重要な was his 力／強力にする of 説得／派閥 that from the very first he shook the certainty of those who for more than a ４半期/4分の1 of a century had never 疑問d.

The two women and their son 圧力（をかける）d 一連の会議、交渉／完成する him and questioned him with breathless 苦悩:

"Then you think that she may know...that she may be able to tell us...?"

He 訂正するd himself:

"I don't say yes and I don't say no. All I say is that there was something in her behaviour during those hours that does not 一致する with her 声明s and with reality. All the 広大な and intolerable mystery that has 重さを計るd 負かす／撃墜する upon you three arises not from a momentary 欠如（する） of attention but from something of which we do not know, but of which she does. That is what I 持続する; and that is what happened."

ジーンズ Louis said, in a husky 発言する／表明する:

"She is alive...She lives at Carhaix...We can send for her..."

Hortense at once 提案するd:

"Would you like me to go for her? I will take the モーター and bring her 支援する with me. Where does she live?"

"In the middle of the town, at a little draper's shop. The chauffeur will show you. Mlle. Boussignol: everybody knows her..."

"And, whatever you do," 追加するd R駭ine, "don't 警告する her in any way. If she's uneasy, so much the better. But don't let her know what we want with her."

Twenty minutes passed in 絶対の silence. R駭ine paced the room, in which the 罰金 old furniture, the handsome tapestries, the 井戸／弁護士席-bound 調書をとる／予約するs and pretty knickknacks denoted a love of art and a 捜し出すing after style in ジーンズ Louis. This room was really his. In the 隣接するing apartments on either 味方する, through the open doors, R駭ine was able to 公式文書，認める the bad taste of the two mothers.

He went up to ジーンズ Louis and, in a low 発言する／表明する, asked:

"Are they 井戸／弁護士席 off?"

"Yes."

"And you?"

"They settled the manor-house upon me, with all the land around it, which makes me やめる 独立した・無所属."

"Have they any relations?"

"Sisters, both of them."

"With whom they could go to live?"

"Yes; and they have いつかs thought of doing so. But there can't be any question of that. Once more, I 保証する you..."

合間 the car had returned. The two women jumped up hurriedly, ready to speak.

"Leave it to me," said R駭ine, "and don't be surprised by anything that I say. It's not a 事柄 of asking her questions but of 脅すing her, of flurrying her...The sudden attack," he 追加するd between his teeth.

The car drove 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the lawn and drew up outside the windows. Hortense sprang out and helped an old woman to alight, dressed in a fluted linen cap, a 黒人／ボイコット velvet bodice and a 激しい gathered skirt.

The old woman entered in a 広大な／多数の／重要な 明言する／公表する of alarm. She had a pointed 直面する, like a weasel's, with a 目だつ mouth 十分な of protruding teeth.

"What's the 事柄, Madame d'Imbleval?" she asked, timidly stepping into the room from which the doctor had once driven her. "Good day to you, Madame Vaurois."

The ladies did not reply. R駭ine （機の）カム 今後 and said, 厳しく:

"Mlle. Boussignol, I have been sent by the Paris police to throw light upon a 悲劇 which took place here twenty-seven years ago. I have just 安全な・保証するd 証拠 that you have distorted the truth and that, as the result of your 誤った 宣言s, the birth-証明書 of one of the children born in the course of that night is 不確かの. Now 誤った 宣言s in 事柄s of birth-証明書s are misdemeanours 罰せられるべき by 法律. I shall therefore be 強いるd to take you to Paris to be interrogated...unless you are 用意が出来ている here and now to 自白する everything that might 修理 the consequences of your offence."

The old maid was shaking in every 四肢. Her teeth were chattering. She was evidently incapable of …に反対するing the least 抵抗 to R駭ine.

"Are you ready to 自白する everything?" he asked.

"Yes," she panted.

"Without 延期する? I have to catch a train. The 商売／仕事 must be settled すぐに. If you show the least hesitation, I take you with me. Have you made up your mind to speak?"

"Yes."

He pointed to ジーンズ Louis:

"Whose son is this gentleman? Madame d'Imbleval's?"

"No."

"Madame Vaurois', therefore?"

"No."

A stupefied silence welcomed the two replies.

"Explain yourself," R駭ine 命令（する）d, looking at his watch.

Then Madame Boussignol fell on her 膝s and said, in so low and dull a 発言する／表明する that they had to bend over her ーするために catch the sense of what she was mumbling:

"Someone （機の）カム in the evening...a gentleman with a newborn baby wrapped in 一面に覆う／毛布s, which he 手配中の，お尋ね者 the doctor to look after. As the doctor wasn't there, he waited all night and it was he who did it all."

"Did what?" asked R駭ine. "What did he do? What happened?"

"井戸／弁護士席, what happened was that it was not one child but the two of them that died: Madame d'Imbleval's and Madame Vaurois' too, both in convulsions. Then the gentleman, seeing this, said, 'This shows me where my 義務 lies. I must 掴む this 適切な時期 of making sure that my own boy shall be happy and 井戸／弁護士席 cared for. Put him in the place of one of the dead children.' He 申し込む／申し出d me a big sum of money, 説 that this one 支払い（額） would save him the expense of 供給するing for his child every month; and I 受託するd. Only, I did not know in whose place to put him and whether to say that the boy was Louis d'Imbleval or ジーンズ Vaurois. The gentleman thought a moment and said neither. Then he explained to me what I was to do and what I was to say after he had gone. And, while I was dressing his boy in vest and binders the same as one of the dead children, he wrapped the other in the 一面に覆う／毛布s he had brought with him and went out into the night."

Mlle. Boussignol bent her 長，率いる and wept. After a moment, R駭ine said:

"Your deposition agrees with the result of my 調査s."

"Can I go?"

"Yes."

"And is it over, as far as I'm 関心d? They won't be talking about this all over the 地区?"

"No. Oh, just one more question: do you know the man's 指名する?"

"No. He didn't tell me his 指名する."

"Have you ever seen him since?"

"Never."

"Have you anything more to say?"

"No."

"Are you 用意が出来ている to 調印する the written text of your 自白?"

"Yes."

"Very 井戸／弁護士席. I shall send for you in a week or two. Till then, not a word to anybody."

He saw her to the door and の近くにd it after her. When he returned, ジーンズ Louis was between the two old ladies and all three were 持つ／拘留するing 手渡すs. The 社債 of 憎悪 and wretchedness which had bound them had suddenly snapped; and this 決裂, without 要求するing them to 反映する upon the 事柄, filled them with a gentle tranquillity of which they were hardly conscious, but which made them serious and thoughtful.

"Let's 急ぐ things," said R駭ine to Hortense. "This is the 決定的な moment of the 戦う／戦い. We must get ジーンズ Louis on board."

Hortense seemed preoccupied. She whispered:

"Why did you let the woman go? Were you 満足させるd with her 声明?"

"I don't need to be 満足させるd. She told us what happened. What more do you want?"

"Nothing...I don't know..."

"We'll talk about it later, my dear. For the moment, I repeat, we must get ジーンズ Louis on board. And すぐに...さもなければ..."

He turned to the young man:

"You agree with me, don't you, that, things 存在 as they are, it is best for you and Madame Vaurois and Madame d'Imbleval to separate for a time? That will enable you all to see 事柄s more 明確に and to decide in perfect freedom what is to be done. Come with us, monsieur. The most 圧力（をかける）ing thing is to save Genevi钁e Aymard, your fianc馥."

ジーンズ Louis stood perplexed and 決めかねて. R駭ine turned to the two women:

"That is your opinion too, I am sure, ladies?"

They nodded.

"You see, monsieur," he said to ジーンズ Louis, "we are all agreed. In 広大な／多数の／重要な crises, there is nothing like 分離...a few days' 一時的休止，執行延期. Quickly now, monsieur."

And, without giving him time to hesitate, he drove him に向かって his bedroom to pack up.

Half an hour later, ジーンズ Louis left the manor-house with his new friends.

* * *

"And he won't go 支援する until he's married," said R駭ine to Hortense, as they were waiting at Carhaix 駅／配置する, to which the car had taken them, while ジーンズ Louis was …に出席するing to his luggage. "Everything's for the best. Are you 満足させるd?"

"Yes, Genevi钁e will be glad," she replied, absently.

When they had taken their seats in the train, R駭ine and she 修理d to the dining-car. R駭ine, who had asked Hortense several questions to which she had replied only in monosyllables, 抗議するd:

"What's the 事柄 with you, my child? You look worried!"

"I? Not at all!"

"Yes, yes, I know you. Now, no secrets, no mysteries!"

She smiled:

"井戸／弁護士席, since you 主張する on knowing if I am 満足させるd, I am bound to 収容する／認める that of course I am...as regards my friend Genevi钁e, but that, in another 尊敬（する）・点—from the point of 見解（をとる） of the adventure—I have an uncomfortable sort of feeling..."

"To speak 率直に, I 港／避難所't 'staggered' you this time?"

"Not very much."

"I seem to you to have played a 第２位 part. For, after all, what have I done? We arrived. We listened to ジーンズ Louis' tale of woe. I had a midwife fetched. And that was all."

"正確に／まさに. I want to know if that was all; and I'm not やめる sure. To tell you the truth, our other adventures left behind them an impression which was—how shall I put it—more 限定された, clearer."

"And this one strikes you as obscure?"

"Obscure, yes, and incomplete."

"But in what way?"

"I don't know. Perhaps it has something to do with that woman's 自白. Yes, very likely that is it. It was all so 予期しない and so short."

"井戸／弁護士席, of course, I 削減（する） it short, as you can readily imagine!" said R駭ine, laughing. "We didn't want too many explanations."

"What do you mean?"

"Why, if she had given her explanations with too much 詳細（に述べる）, we should have ended by 疑問ing what she was telling us."

"By 疑問ing it?"

"井戸／弁護士席, hang it all, the story is a trifle farfetched! That fellow arriving at night, with a live baby in his pocket, and going away with a dead one: the thing hardly 持つ／拘留するs water. But you see, my dear, I hadn't much time to coach the unfortunate woman in her part."

Hortense 星／主役にするd at him in amazement:

"What on earth do you mean?"

"井戸／弁護士席, you know how dull-witted these countrywomen are. And she and I had no time to spare. So we worked out a little scene in a hurry...and she really didn't 行為／法令／行動する it so 不正に. It was all in the 権利 重要な: terror, tremolo, 涙／ほころびs..."

"Is it possible?" murmured Hortense. "Is it possible? You had seen her beforehand?"

"I had to, of course."

"But when?"

"This morning, when we arrived. While you were titivating yourself at the hotel at Carhaix, I was running 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to see what （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） I could 選ぶ up. As you may imagine, everybody in the 地区 knows the d'Imbleval-Vaurois story. I was at once directed to the former midwife, Mlle. Boussignol. With Mlle. Boussignol it did not take long. Three minutes to settle a new 見解／翻訳／版 of what had happened and ten thousand フランs to induce her to repeat that...more or いっそう少なく 信頼できる...見解／翻訳／版 to the people at the manor-house."

"A やめる incredible 見解／翻訳／版!"

"Not so bad as all that, my child, seeing that you believed it...and the others too. And that was the 必須の thing. What I had to do was to 破壊する at one blow a truth which had been twenty-seven years in 存在 and which was all the more 堅固に 設立するd because it was 設立するd on actual facts. That was why I went for it with all my might and attacked it by sheer 軍隊 of eloquence. Impossible to identify the children? I 否定する it. 必然的な 混乱? It's not true. 'You're all three,' I say, 'the 犠牲者s of something which I don't know but which it is your 義務 to （疑いを）晴らす up!' 'That's easily done,' says ジーンズ Louis, whose 有罪の判決 is at once shaken. 'Let's send for Mlle. Boussignol.' '権利! Let's send for her.' その結果 Mlle. Boussignol arrives and mumbles out the little speech which I have taught her. Sensation! General stupefaction...of which I take advantage to carry off our young man!"

Hortense shook her 長，率いる:

"But they'll get over it, all three of them, on thinking!"

"Never! Never! They will have their 疑問s, perhaps. But they will never 同意 to feel 確かな ! They will never agree to think! Use your imagination! Here are three people whom I have 救助（する）d from the hell in which they have been floundering for a ４半期/4分の1 of a century. Do you think they're going 支援する to it? Here are three people who, from 証拠不十分 or a 誤った sense of 義務, had not the courage to escape. Do you think that they won't 粘着する like grim death to the liberty which I'm giving them? Nonsense! Why, they would have swallowed a hoax twice as difficult to digest as that which Mlle. Boussignol dished up for them! After all, my 見解／翻訳／版 was no more absurd than the truth. On the contrary. And they swallowed it whole! Look at this: before we left, I heard Madame d'Imbleval and Madame Vaurois speak of an 即座の 除去. They were already becoming やめる affectionate at the thought of seeing the last of each other."

"But what about ジーンズ Louis?"

"ジーンズ Louis? Why, he was fed up with his two mothers! By Jingo, one can't do with two mothers in a lifetime! What a 状況／情勢! And when one has the luck to be able to choose between having two mothers or 非，不，無 at all, why, bless me, one doesn't hesitate! And, besides, ジーンズ Louis is in love with Genevi钁e." He laughed. "And he loves her 井戸／弁護士席 enough, I hope and 信用, not to （打撃，刑罰などを）与える two mothers-in-法律 upon her! Come, you may be 平易な in your mind. Your friend's happiness is 保証するd; and that is all you asked for. All that 事柄s is the 反対する which we 達成する and not the more or いっそう少なく peculiar nature of the methods which we 雇う. And, if some adventures are 負傷させる up and some mysteries elucidated by looking for and finding cigarette-ends, or incendiary water-瓶／封じ込めるs and 炎ing hatboxes as on our last 探検隊／遠征隊, others call for psychology and for 純粋に psychological 解答s. I have spoken. And I 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 you to be silent."

"Silent?"

"Yes, there's a man and woman sitting behind us who seem to be 説 something uncommonly 利益／興味ing."

"But they're talking in whispers."

"Just so. When people talk in whispers, it's always about something shady."

He lit a cigarette and sat 支援する in his 議長，司会を務める. Hortense listened, but in vain. As for him, he was emitting little slow puffs of smoke.

Fifteen minutes later, the train stopped and the man and woman got out.

"Pity," said R駭ine, "that I don't know their 指名するs or where they're going. But I know where to find them. My dear, we have a new adventure before us."

Hortense 抗議するd:

"Oh, no, please, not yet!...Give me a little 残り／休憩（する）!...And oughtn't we to think of Genevi钁e?"

He seemed 大いに surprised:

"Why, all that's over and done with! Do you mean to say you want to waste any more time over that old story? 井戸／弁護士席, I for my part 自白する that I've lost all 利益／興味 in the man with the two mammas."

And this was said in such a comical トン and with such コースを変えるing 誠実 that Hortense was once more 掴むd with a fit of giggling. Laughter alone was able to relax her exasperated 神経s and to distract her from so many contradictory emotions.

4. The Tell-tale Film

"Do look at the man who's playing the butler," said Serge R駭ine.

"What is there peculiar about him?" asked Hortense.

They were sitting in the balcony at a picture-palace, to which Hortense had asked to be taken so that she might see on the 審査する the daughter of a lady, now dead, who used to give her piano-lessons. Rose Andr馥, a lovely girl with lissome movements and a smiling 直面する, was that evening 人物／姿／数字ing in a new film, The Happy Princess, which she lit up with her high spirits and her warm, glowing beauty.

R駭ine made no direct reply, but, during a pause in the 業績／成果, continued:

"I いつかs console myself for an indifferent film by watching the subordinate characters. It seems to me that those poor devils, who are made to rehearse 確かな scenes ten or twenty times over, must often be thinking of other things than their parts at the time of the final （危険などに）さらす. And it's 広大な／多数の／重要な fun 公式文書，認めるing those little moments of distraction which 明らかにする／漏らす something of their temperament, of their instinct self. As, for instance, in the 事例／患者 of that butler: look!"

The 審査する now showed a luxuriously served （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. The Happy Princess sat at the 長，率いる, surrounded by all her suitors. Half-a-dozen footmen moved about the room, under the orders of the butler, a big fellow with a dull, coarse 直面する, a ありふれた 外見 and a pair of enormous eyebrows which met across his forehead in a 選び出す／独身 line.

"He looks a brute," said Hortense, "but what do you see in him that's peculiar?"

"Just 公式文書，認める how he gazes at the princess and tell me if he doesn't 星／主役にする at her oftener than he せねばならない."

"I really 港／避難所't noticed anything, so far," said Hortense.

"Why, of course he does!" Serge R駭ine 宣言するd. "It is やめる obvious that in actual life he entertains for Rose Andr馥 personal feelings which are やめる out of place in a nameless servant. It is possible that, in real life, no one has any idea of such a thing; but, on the 審査する, when he is not watching himself, or when he thinks that the actors at rehearsal cannot see him, his secret escapes him. Look..."

The man was standing still. It was the end of dinner. The princess was drinking a glass of シャンペン酒 and he was gloating over her with his glittering 注目する，もくろむs half-hidden behind their 激しい lids.

Twice again they surprised in his 直面する those strange 表現s to which R駭ine ascribed an emotional meaning which Hortense 辞退するd to see:

"It's just his way of looking at people," she said.

The first part of the film ended. There were two parts, divided by an entr'行為／法令／行動する. The notice on the programme 明言する／公表するd that "a year had elapsed and that the Happy Princess was living in a pretty Norman cottage, all hung with creepers, together with her husband, a poor musician."

The princess was still happy, as was evident on the 審査する, still as attractive as ever and still 包囲するd by the greatest variety of suitors. Nobles and commoners, 小作農民s and financiers, men of all 肉親，親類d fell swooning at her feet; and 目だつ の中で them was a sort of boorish 独房監禁, a shaggy, half-wild woodcutter, whom she met whenever she went out for a walk. 武装した with his axe, a formidable, crafty 存在, he prowled around the cottage; and the 観客s felt with a sense of 狼狽 that a 危険，危なくする was hanging over the Happy Princess' 長，率いる.

"Look at that!" whispered R駭ine. "Do you realise who the man of the 支持を得ようと努めるd is?"

"No."

"簡単に the butler. The same actor is 二塁打ing the two parts."

In fact, notwithstanding the new 人物／姿／数字 which he 削減（する）, the butler's movements and postures were 明らかな under the 激しい gait and 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd shoulders of the woodcutter, even as under the unkempt 耐えるd and long, 厚い hair the once clean-shaven 直面する was 明白な with the cruel 表現 and the bushy line of the eyebrows.

The princess, in the background, was seen to 現れる from the thatched cottage. The man hid himself behind a clump of trees. From time to time, the 審査する 陳列する，発揮するd, on an enormously 大きくするd 規模, his ひどく rolling 注目する，もくろむs or his murderous 手渡すs with their 抱擁する thumbs.

"The man 脅すs me," said Hortense. "He is really terrifying."

"Because he's 事実上の／代理 on his own account," said R駭ine. "You must understand that, in the space of three or four months that appears to separate the dates at which the two films were made, his passion has made 進歩; and to him it is not the princess who is coming but Rose Andr馥."

The man crouched low. The 犠牲者 approached, gaily and unsuspectingly. She passed, heard a sound, stopped and looked about her with a smiling 空気／公表する which became attentive, then uneasy, and then more and more anxious. The woodcutter had 押し進めるd aside the 支店s and was coming through the copse.

They were now standing 直面する to 直面する. He opened his 武器 as though to 掴む her. She tried to 叫び声をあげる, to call out for help; but the 武器 の近くにd around her before she could 申し込む／申し出 the slightest 抵抗. Then he threw her over his shoulder and began to run.

"Are you 満足させるd?" whispered R駭ine. "Do you think that this fourth-率 actor would have had all that strength and energy if it had been any other woman than Rose Andr馥?"

一方／合間 the woodcutter was crossing the skirt of a forest and 急落（する），激減（する）ing through 広大な／多数の／重要な trees and 集まりs of 激しく揺するs. After setting the princess 負かす／撃墜する, he （疑いを）晴らすd the 入り口 to a 洞穴 which the daylight entered by a slanting crevice.

A succession of 見解（をとる）s 陳列する，発揮するd the husband's despair, the search and the 発見 of some small 支店s which had been broken by the princess and which showed the path that had been taken. Then （機の）カム the final scene, with the terrible struggle between the man and the woman when the woman, vanquished and exhausted, is flung to the ground, the sudden arrival of the husband and the 発射 that puts an end to the brute's life...

* * *

"井戸／弁護士席," said R駭ine, when they had left the picture-palace—and he spoke with a 確かな gravity—"I 持続する that the daughter of your old piano-teacher has been in danger ever since the day when that last scene was filmed. I 持続する that this scene 代表するs not so much an 強襲，強姦 by the man of the 支持を得ようと努めるd on the Happy Princess as a violent and frantic attack by an actor on the woman he 願望（する）s. Certainly it all happened within the bounds 定める／命ずるd by the part and nobody saw anything in it—nobody except perhaps Rose Andr馥 herself—but I, for my part, have （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd flashes of passion which leave not a 疑問 in my mind. I have seen ちらりと見ることs that betrayed the wish and even the 意向 to commit 殺人. I have seen clenched 手渡すs, ready to strangle, in short, a 得点する／非難する／２０ of 詳細（に述べる）s which 証明する to me that, at that time, the man's instinct was 勧めるing him to kill the woman who could never be his."

"And it all 量s to what?"

"We must 保護する Rose Andr馥 if she is still in danger and if it is not too late."

"And to do this?"

"We must get 持つ／拘留する of その上の （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）."

"From whom?"

"From the World's Cinema Company, which made the film. I will go to them tomorrow morning. Will you wait for me in your flat about lunchtime?"

At heart, Hortense was still 懐疑的な. All these manifestations of passion, of which she 否定するd neither the ardour nor the ferocity, seemed to her to be the 合理的な／理性的な behaviour of a good actor. She had seen nothing of the terrible 悲劇 which R駭ine 競うd that he had divined; and she wondered whether he was not erring through an 超過 of imagination.

"井戸／弁護士席," she asked, next day, not without a touch of irony, "how far have you got? Have you made a good 捕らえる、獲得する? Anything mysterious? Anything thrilling?"

"Pretty good."

"Oh, really? And your いわゆる lover..."

"Is one Dalbr鑷ue, 初めは a scene-painter, who played the butler in the first part of the film and the man of the 支持を得ようと努めるd in the second and was so much 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がるd that they engaged him for a new film. その結果, he has been 事実上の／代理 lately. He was 事実上の／代理 近づく Paris. But, on the morning of Friday the 18th of September, he broke into the garage of the World's Cinema Company and made off with a magnificent car and forty thousand フランs in money. （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） was 宿泊するd with the police; and on the Sunday the car was 設立する a little way outside Dreux. And up to now the enquiry has 明らかにする／漏らすd two things, which will appear in the papers tomorrow: first, Dalbr鑷ue is 申し立てられた／疑わしい to have committed a 殺人 which created a 広大な／多数の／重要な 動かす last year, the 殺人 of Bourguet, the jeweller; secondly, on the day after his two 強盗s, Dalbr鑷ue was 運動ing through Le Havre in a 自動車 with two men who helped him to carry off, in 幅の広い daylight and in a （人が）群がるd street, a lady whose 身元 has not yet been discovered."

"Rose Andr馥?" asked Hortense, uneasily.

"I have just been to Rose Andr馥's: the World's Cinema Company gave me her 演説（する）／住所. Rose Andr馥 spent this summer travelling and then stayed for a fortnight in the Seine-inf駻ieure, where she has a small place of her own, the actual cottage in The Happy Princess. On receiving an 招待 from America to do a film there, she （機の）カム 支援する to Paris, 登録（する）d her luggage at the Gare Saint-Lazare and left on Friday the 18th of September, ーするつもりであるing to sleep at Le Havre and take Saturday's boat."

"Friday the 18th," muttered Hortense, "the same day on which that man..."

"And it was on the Saturday that a woman was carried off by him at Le Havre. I looked in at the Compagnie Transatlantique and a 簡潔な／要約する 調査 showed that Rose Andr馥 had 調書をとる／予約するd a cabin but that the cabin remained unoccupied. The 乗客 did not turn up."

"This is frightful. She has been carried off. You were 権利."

"I 恐れる so."

"What have you decided to do?"

"Adolphe, my chauffeur, is outside with the car. Let us go to Le Havre. Up to the 現在の, Rose Andr馥's 見えなくなる does not seem to have become known. Before it does and before the police identify the woman carried off by Dalbr鑷ue with the woman who did not turn up to （人命などを）奪う，主張する her cabin, we will get on Rose Andr馥's 跡をつける."

There was not much said on the 旅行. At four o'clock Hortense and R駭ine reached Rouen. But here R駭ine changed his road.

"Adolphe, take the left bank of the Seine."

He 広げるd a モーターing-地図／計画する on his 膝s and, tracing the 大勝する with his finger, showed Hortense that, if you draw a line from Le Havre, or rather from Quillebeuf, where the road crosses the Seine, to Dreux, where the stolen car was 設立する, this line passes through Routot, a market-town lying west of the forest of Brotonne:

"Now it was in the forest of Brotonne," he continued, "（許可，名誉などを）与えるing to what I heard, that the second part of The Happy Princess was filmed. And the question that arises is this: having got 持つ／拘留する of Rose Andr馥, would it not occur to Dalbr鑷ue, when passing 近づく the forest on the Saturday night, to hide his prey there, while his two 共犯者s went on to Dreux and from there returned to Paris? The 洞穴 was やめる 近づく. Was he not bound to go to it? How should he do さもなければ? Wasn't it while running to this 洞穴, a few months ago, that he held in his 武器, against his breast, within reach of his lips, the woman whom he loved and whom he has now 征服する／打ち勝つd? By every 支配する of 運命／宿命 and logic, the adventure is 存在 repeated all over again...but this time in reality. Rose Andr馥 is a 捕虜. There is no hope of 救助（する）. The forest is 広大な and lonely. That night, or on one of the に引き続いて nights, Rose Andr馥 must 降伏する...or die."

Hortense gave a shudder:

"We shall be too late. Besides, you don't suppose that he's keeping her a 囚人?"

"Certainly not. The place I have in mind is at a 十字路／岐路 and is not a 安全な 退却／保養地. But we may discover some 手がかり（を与える） or other."

The shades of night were 落ちるing from the tall trees when they entered the 古代の forest of Brotonne, 十分な of Roman remains and 中世 遺物s. R駭ine knew the forest 井戸／弁護士席 and remembered that 近づく a famous oak, known as the ワイン-樽, there was a 洞穴 which must be the 洞穴 of the Happy Princess. He 設立する it easily, switched on his electric たいまつ, rummaged in the dark corners and brought Hortense 支援する to the 入り口:

"There's nothing inside," he said, "but here is the 証拠 which I was looking for. Dalbr鑷ue was obsessed by the recollection of the film, but so was Rose Andr馥. The Happy Princess had broken off the tips of the 支店s on the way through the forest. Rose Andr馥 has managed to break off some to the 権利 of this 開始, in the hope that she would be discovered as on the first occasion."

"Yes," said Hortense, "it's a proof that she has been here; but the proof is three weeks old. Since that time..."

"Since that time, she is either dead and buried under a heap of leaves or else alive in some 穴を開ける even lonelier than this."

"If so, where is he?"

R駭ine pricked up his ears. Repeated blows of the axe were sounding from some distance, no 疑問 coming from a part of the forest that was 存在 （疑いを）晴らすd.

"He?" said R駭ine, "I wonder whether he may not have continued to behave under the 影響（力） of the film and whether the man of the 支持を得ようと努めるd in The Happy Princess has not やめる 自然に 再開するd his calling. For how is the man to live, to 得る his food, without attracting attention? He will have 設立する a 職業."

"We can't make sure of that."

"We might, by 尋問 the woodcutters whom we can hear."

The car took them by a forest-road to another 十字路／岐路 where they entered on foot a 跡をつける which was 深く，強烈に rutted by wagon-wheels. The sound of axes 中止するd. After walking for a ４半期/4分の1 of an hour, they met a dozen men who, having finished work for the day, were returning to the villages 近づく by.

"Will this path take us to Routot?" ask R駭ine, ーするために open a conversation with them.

"No, you're turning your 支援するs on it," said one of the men, gruffly.

And he went on, …を伴ってd by his mates.

Hortense and R駭ine stood rooted to the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. They had 認めるd the butler. His cheeks and chin were shaved, but his upper lip was covered by a 黒人／ボイコット moustache, evidently dyed. The eyebrows no longer met and were 減ずるd to normal dimensions.

* * *

Thus, in いっそう少なく than twenty hours, 事実上の／代理 on the vague hints 供給（する）d by the 耐えるing of a film-actor, Serge R駭ine had touched the very heart of the 悲劇 by means of 純粋に psychological arguments.

"Rose Andr馥 is alive," he said. "さもなければ Dalbr鑷ue would have left the country. The poor thing must be 拘留するd and bound up; and he takes her some food at night."

"We will save her, won't we?"

"Certainly, by keeping a watch on him and, if necessary, but in the last 訴える手段／行楽地, 説得力のある him by 軍隊 to give up his secret."

Next morning he learnt from Adolphe that Dalbr鑷ue, on the previous evening, after all the lights were out, had carried 負かす／撃墜する a bicycle from his room and 機動力のある it and had not returned until の直前に sunrise.

The bicycle 跡をつけるs led R駭ine to the uninhabited Ch穰eau des Landes, five miles from the village. They disappeared in a rocky path which ran beside the park 負かす／撃墜する to the Seine, opposite the Jumi鑒es 半島.

Next night, he took up his position there. At eleven o'clock, Dalbr鑷ue climbed a bank, 緊急発進するd over a wire 盗品故買者, hid his bicycle under the 支店s and moved away. It seemed impossible to follow him in the pitchy 不明瞭, on a mossy 国／地域 that muffled the sound of footsteps. R駭ine did not make the 試みる／企てる; but, at daybreak, he （機の）カム with his chauffeur and 追跡（する）d through the park all the morning. Though the park, which covered the 味方する of a hill and was bounded below by the river, was not very large, he 設立する no 手がかり（を与える） which gave him any 推論する／理由 to suppose that Rose Andr馥 was 拘留するd there.

He therefore went 支援する to the village, with the 会社／堅い 意向 of taking 活動／戦闘 that evening and 雇うing 軍隊:

"This 明言する／公表する of things cannot go on," he said to Hortense. "I must 救助（する） Rose Andr馥 at all costs and save her from that ruffian's clutches. He must be made to speak. He must. さもなければ there's a danger that we may be too late."

That day was Sunday; and Dalbr鑷ue did not go to work. He did not leave his room except for lunch and went upstairs again すぐに afterwards. But at three o'clock R駭ine and Hortense, who were keeping a watch on him from the inn, saw him come 負かす／撃墜する the 木造の staircase, with his bicycle on his shoulder. Leaning it against the 底（に届く） step, he inflated the tires and fastened to the handlebar a rather bulky 反対する wrapped in a newspaper.

"Police!" said R駭ine. "What bad luck! If those fellows take a 手渡す, they will spoil everything."

"Why? On the contrary, I should have thought..."

"Yes, they will. They will put Dalbr鑷ue out of the way...and then? Will that give us Rose Andr馥?"

Dalbr鑷ue had finished his 準備s. Just as he was 開始するing his bicycle, the 探偵，刑事s rose in a 団体／死体, ready to make a dash for him. But Dalbr鑷ue, though やめる unconscious of their presence, changed his mind and went 支援する to his room as though he had forgotten something.

"Now's the time!" said R駭ine. "I'm going to 危険 it. But it's a difficult 状況／情勢 and I've no 広大な／多数の／重要な hopes."

He went out into the yard and, at a moment when the 探偵，刑事s were not looking, ran up the staircase, as was only natural if he wished to give an order to his chauffeur. But he had no sooner reached the rustic balcony at the 支援する of the house, which gave admission to the two bedrooms than he stopped. Dalbr鑷ue's door was open. R駭ine walked in.

Dalbr鑷ue stepped 支援する, at once assuming the 防御の:

"What do you want? Who said you could..."

"Silence!" whispered R駭ine, with an imperious gesture. "It's all up with you!"

"What are you talking about?" growled the man, 怒って.

"Lean out of your window. There are four men below on the watch for you to leave, four 探偵，刑事s."

Dalbr鑷ue leant over the terrace and muttered an 誓い:

"On the watch for me?" he said, turning 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. "What do I care?"

"They have a 令状."

He 倍のd his 武器:

"Shut up with your piffle! A 令状! What's that to me?"

"Listen," said R駭ine, "and let us waste no time. It's 緊急の. Your 指名する's Dalbr鑷ue, or, at least, that's the 指名する under which you 行為／法令／行動するd in The Happy Princess and under which the police are looking for you as 存在 the 殺害者 of Bourguet the jeweller, the man who stole a 自動車 and forty thousand フランs from the World's Cinema Company and the man who 誘拐するd a woman at Le Havre. All this is known and 証明するd...and here's the upshot. Four men downstairs. Myself here, my chauffeur in the next room. You're done for. Do you want me to save you?"

Dalbr鑷ue gave his adversary a long look:

"Who are you?"

"A friend of Rose Andr馥's," said R駭ine.

The other started and, to some extent dropping his mask, retorted:

"What are your 条件s?"

"Rose Andr馥, whom you have 誘拐するd and tormented, is dying in some 穴を開ける or corner. Where is she?"

A strange thing occurred and impressed R駭ine. Dalbr鑷ue's 直面する, usually so ありふれた, was lit up by a smile that made it almost attractive. But this was only a flashing 見通し: the man すぐに 再開するd his hard and impassive 表現.

"And suppose I 辞退する to speak?" he said.

"So much the worse for you. It means your 逮捕（する）."

"I dare say; but it means the death of Rose Andr馥. Who will 解放（する） her?"

"You. You will speak now, or in an hour, or two hours hence at least. You will never have the heart to keep silent and let her die."

Dalbr鑷ue shrugged his shoulders. Then, raising his 手渡す, he said:

"I 断言する on my life that, if they 逮捕（する） me, not a word will leave my lips."

"What then?"

"Then save me. We will 会合，会う this evening at the 入り口 to the Parc des Landes and say what we have to say."

"Why not at once?"

"I have spoken."

"Will you be there?"

"I shall be there."

R駭ine 反映するd. There was something in all this that he failed to しっかり掴む. In any 事例／患者, the frightful danger that 脅すd Rose Andr馥 支配するd the whole 状況／情勢; and R駭ine was not the man to despise this 脅し and to 固執する out of vanity in a perilous course. Rose Andr馥's life （機の）カム before everything.

He struck several blows on the 塀で囲む of the next bedroom and called his chauffeur.

"Adolphe, is the car ready?"

"Yes, sir."

He waited till the car was drawn up in 一致 with his 指示／教授／教育s and, when he reached it, he began to question his chauffeur, ーするために attract the 探偵，刑事s' attention.

One of them, however, having cast a ちらりと見ること through the spindle-trees, caught sight of Dalbr鑷ue just as he reached the 底（に届く） of the staircase. He gave the alarm and darted 今後, followed by his comrades, but had to run 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the car and bumped into the chauffeur, which gave Dalbr鑷ue time to 開始する his bicycle and cross the yard unimpeded. He thus had some seconds' start. Unfortunately for him as he was about to enter the passage at the 支援する, a 軍隊／機動隊 of boys and girls appeared, returning from vespers. On 審理，公聴会 the shouts of the 探偵，刑事s, they spread their 武器 in 前線 of the 逃亡者／はかないもの, who gave two or three lurches and ended by 落ちるing.

Cries of 勝利 were raised:

"Lay 持つ／拘留する of him! Stop him!" roared the 探偵，刑事s as they 急ぐd 今後.

R駭ine, seeing that the game was up, ran after the others and called out:

"Stop him!"

He （機の）カム up with them just as Dalbr鑷ue, after 回復するing his feet, knocked one of the policemen 負かす／撃墜する and levelled his revolver. R駭ine snatched it out of his 手渡すs. But the two other 探偵，刑事s, startled, had also produced their 武器s. They 解雇する／砲火／射撃d. Dalbr鑷ue, 攻撃する，衝突する in the 脚 and the chest, pitched 今後 and fell.

"Thank you, sir," said the 視察官 to R駭ine introducing himself. "We 借りがある a lot to you."

"It seems to me that you've done for the fellow," said R駭ine. "Who is he?"

"One Dalbr鑷ue, a scoundrel for whom we were looking."

R駭ine was beside himself. Hortense had joined him by this time; and he growled:

"The silly fools! Now they've killed him!"

"Oh, it isn't possible!"

"We shall see. But, whether he's dead or alive, it's death to Rose Andr馥. How are we to trace her? And what chance have we of finding the place—some inaccessible 退却／保養地—where the poor thing is dying of 悲惨 and 餓死?"

The 探偵，刑事s and 小作農民s had moved away, 耐えるing Dalbr鑷ue with them on an improvised 担架. R駭ine, who had at first followed them, ーするために find out what was going to happen, changed his mind and was now standing with his 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on the ground. The 落ちる of the bicycle had unfastened the 小包 which Dalbr鑷ue had tied to the handlebar; and the newspaper had burst, 明らかにする／漏らすing its contents, a tin saucepan, rusty, dented, 乱打するd and useless.

"What's the meaning of this?" he muttered. "What was the idea?..."

He 選ぶd it up 診察するd it. Then he gave a grin and a click of the tongue and chuckled, slowly:

"Don't move an eyelash, my dear. Let all these people （疑いを）晴らす off. All this is no 商売／仕事 of ours, is it? The troubles of police don't 関心 us. We are two 運転者s travelling for our 楽しみ and collecting old saucepans if we feel so inclined."

He called his chauffeur:

"Adolphe, take us to the Parc des Landes by a roundabout road."

Half an hour later they reached the sunken 跡をつける and began to 緊急発進する 負かす／撃墜する it on foot beside the wooded slopes. The Seine, which was very low at this time of day, was lapping against a little jetty 近づく which lay a worm-eaten, mouldering boat, 十分な of puddles of water.

R駭ine stepped into the boat and at once began to bale out the puddles with his saucepan. He then drew the boat と一緒に of the jetty, helped Hortense in and used the one oar which he shipped in a gap in the 厳しい to work her into midstream:

"I believe I'm there!" he said, with a laugh. "The worst that can happen to us is to get our feet wet, for our （手先の）技術 漏れるs a trifle. But 港／避難所't we a saucepan? Oh, blessings on that useful utensil! Almost as soon as I 始める，決める 注目する，もくろむs upon it, I remembered that people use those articles to bale out the 底（に届く）s of leaky boats. Why, there was bound to be a boat in the Landes 支持を得ようと努めるd! How was it I never thought of that? But of course Dalbr鑷ue made use of her to cross the Seine! And, as she made water, he brought a saucepan."

"Then Rose Andr馥...?" asked Hortense.

"Is a 囚人 on the other bank, on the Jumi鑒es 半島. You see the famous abbey from here."

They ran 座礁して on a beach of big pebbles covered with わずかな／ほっそりした.

"And it can't be very far away," he 追加するd. "Dalbr鑷ue did not spend the whole night running about."

A towpath followed the 砂漠d bank. Another path led away from it. They chose the second and, passing between orchards enclosed by hedges, （機の）カム to a landscape that seemed strangely familiar to them. Where had they seen that pool before, with the willows overhanging it? And where had they seen that abandoned hovel?

Suddenly both of them stopped with one （許可，名誉などを）与える:

"Oh!" said Hortense. "I can hardly believe my 注目する，もくろむs!"

Opposite them was the white gate of a large orchard, at the 支援する of which, の中で groups of old, gnarled apple-trees, appeared a cottage with blue shutters, the cottage of the Happy Princess.

"Of course!" cried R駭ine. "And I せねばならない have known it, considering that the film showed both this cottage and the forest の近くに by. And isn't everything happening 正確に／まさに as in The Happy Princess? Isn't Dalbr鑷ue 支配するd by the memory of it? The house, which is certainly the one in which Rose Andr馥 spent the summer, was empty. He has shut her up there."

"But the house, you told me, was in the Seine-inf駻ieure."

"井戸／弁護士席, so are we! To the left of the river, the Eure and the forest of Brotonne; to the 権利, the Seine-inf駻ieure. But between them is the 障害 of the river, which is why I didn't connect the two. A hundred and fifty yards of water form a more 効果的な 分割 than dozens of miles."

The gate was locked. They got through the hedge a little lower 負かす／撃墜する and walked に向かって the house, which was 審査するd on one 味方する by an old 塀で囲む shaggy with ivy and roofed with thatch.

"It seems as if there was somebody there," said Hortense. "Didn't I hear the sound of a window?"

"Listen."

Someone struck a few chords on a piano. Then a 発言する／表明する arose, a woman's 発言する／表明する softly and solemnly singing a ballad that thrilled with 抑制するd passion. The woman's whole soul seemed to breathe itself into the melodious 公式文書，認めるs.

They walked on. The 塀で囲む 隠すd them from 見解（をとる）, but they saw a sitting-room furnished with 有望な wallpaper and a blue Roman carpet. The throbbing 発言する／表明する 中止するd. The piano ended with a last chord; and the singer rose and appeared でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd in the window.

"Rose Andr馥!" whispered Hortense.

"井戸／弁護士席!" said R駭ine, admitting his astonishment. "This is the last thing that I 推定する／予想するd! Rose Andr馥! Rose Andr馥 at liberty! And singing Massenet in the sitting room of her cottage!"

"What does it all mean? Do you understand?"

"Yes, but it has taken me long enough! But how could we have guessed...?"

Although they had never seen her except on the 審査する, they had not the least 疑問 that this was she. It was really Rose Andr馥, or rather, the Happy Princess, whom they had admired a few days before, まっただ中に the furniture of that very sitting-room or on the threshold of that very cottage. She was wearing the same dress; her hair was done in the same way; she had on the same bangles and necklaces as in The Happy Princess; and her lovely 直面する, with its rosy cheeks and laughing 注目する，もくろむs, bore the same look of joy and serenity.

Some sound must have caught her ear, for she leant over に向かって a clump of shrubs beside the cottage and whispered into the silent garden:

"Georges...Georges...Is that you, my darling?"

Receiving no reply, she drew herself up and stood smiling at the happy thoughts that seemed to flood her 存在.

But a door opened at the 支援する of the room and an old 小作農民 woman entered with a tray laden with bread, butter and milk:

"Here, Rose, my pretty one, I've brought you your supper. Milk fresh from the cow..."

And, putting 負かす／撃墜する the tray, she continued:

"Aren't you afraid, Rose, of the 冷気／寒がらせる of the night 空気／公表する? Perhaps you're 推定する／予想するing your sweetheart?"

"I 港／避難所't a sweetheart, my dear old Catherine."

"What next!" said the old woman, laughing. "Only this morning there were 足跡s under the window that didn't look at all proper!"

"A 夜盗，押し込み強盗's 足跡s perhaps, Catherine."

"井戸／弁護士席, I don't say they weren't, Rose dear, 特に as in your calling you have a lot of people 一連の会議、交渉／完成する you whom it's 井戸／弁護士席 to be careful of. For instance, your friend Dalbr鑷ue, eh? Nice goings on his are! You saw the paper yesterday. A fellow who has robbed and 殺人d people and carried off a woman at Le Havre...!"

Hortense and R駭ine would have much liked to know what Rose Andr馥 thought of the 発覚s, but she had turned her 支援する to them and was sitting at her supper; and the window was now の近くにd, so that they could neither hear her reply nor see the 表現 of her features.

They waited for a moment. Hortense was listening with an anxious 直面する. But R駭ine began to laugh:

"Very funny, really funny! And such an 予期しない ending! And we who were 追跡（する）ing for her in some 洞穴 or damp cellar, a horrible tomb where the poor thing was dying of hunger! It's a fact, she knew the terrors of that first night of 捕らわれた; and I 持続する that, on that first night, she was flung, half-dead, into the 洞穴. Only, there you are: the next morning she was alive! One night was enough to tame the little rogue and to make Dalbr鑷ue as handsome as Prince Charming in her 注目する，もくろむs! For see the difference. On the films or in novels, the Happy Princesses resist or commit 自殺. But in real life...oh, woman, woman!"

"Yes," said Hortense, "but the man she loves is almost certainly dead."

"And a good thing too! It would be the best 解答. What would be the 結果 of this 犯罪の love for a どろぼう and 殺害者?"

A few minutes passed. Then, まっただ中に the 平和的な silence of the 病弱なing day, mingled with the first 影をつくる／尾行するs of the twilight, they again heard the grating of the window, which was 慎重に opened. Rose Andr馥 leant over the garden and waited, with her 注目する，もくろむs turned to the 塀で囲む, as though she saw something there.

Presently, R駭ine shook the ivy-支店s.

"Ah!" she said. "This time I know you're there! Yes, the ivy's moving. Georges, Georges darling, why do you keep me waiting? Catherine has gone. I am all alone..."

She had knelt 負かす／撃墜する and was distractedly stretching out her shapely 武器 covered with bangles which 衝突／不一致d with a metallic sound:

"Georges!...Georges!..."

Her every movement, the thrill of her 発言する／表明する, her whole 存在 表明するd 願望（する） and love. Hortense, 深く，強烈に touched, could not help 説:

"How the poor thing loves him! If she but knew..."

"Ah!" cried the girl. "You've spoken. You're there, and you want me to come to you, don't you? Here I am, Georges!..."

She climbed over the window-ledge and began to run, while R駭ine went 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 塀で囲む and 前進するd to 会合，会う her.

She stopped short in 前線 of him and stood choking at the sight of this man and woman whom she did not know and who were stepping out of the very 影をつくる／尾行する from which her beloved appeared to her each night.

R駭ine 屈服するd, gave his 指名する and introduced his companion:

"Madame Hortense Daniel, a pupil and friend of your mother's."

Still motionless with stupefaction, her features drawn, she stammered:

"You know who I am?...And you were there just now?...You heard what I was 説...?"

R駭ine, without hesitating or pausing in his speech, said:

"You are Rose Andr馥, the Happy Princess. We saw you on the films the other evening; and circumstances led us to 始める，決める out in search of you...to Le Havre, where you were 誘拐するd on the day when you were to have left for America, and to the forest of Brotonne, where you were 拘留するd."

She 抗議するd 熱望して, with a 軍隊d laugh:

"What is all this? I have not been to Le Havre. I （機の）カム straight here. 誘拐するd? 拘留するd? What nonsense!"

"Yes, 拘留するd, in the same 洞穴 as the Happy Princess; and you broke off some 支店s to the 権利 of the 洞穴."

"But how absurd! Who would have 誘拐するd me? I have no enemy."

"There is a man in love with you: the one whom you were 推定する／予想するing just now."

"Yes, my lover," she said, proudly. "Have I not the 権利 to receive whom I like?"

"You have the 権利; you are a 解放する／自由な スパイ／執行官. But the man who comes to see you every evening is 手配中の，お尋ね者 by the police. His 指名する is Georges Dalbr鑷ue. He killed Bourguet the jeweller."

The 告訴，告発 made her start with indignation and she exclaimed:

"It's a 嘘（をつく）! An 悪名高い 捏造／製作 of the newspapers! Georges was in Paris on the night of the 殺人. He can 証明する it."

"He stole a モーター car and forty thousand フランs in 公式文書，認めるs."

She retorted 熱心に:

"The 自動車 was taken 支援する by his friends and the 公式文書，認めるs will be 回復するd. He never touched them. My leaving for America had made him lose his 長，率いる."

"Very 井戸／弁護士席. I am やめる willing to believe everything that you say. But the police may show いっそう少なく 約束 in these 声明s and いっそう少なく indulgence."

She became suddenly uneasy and 滞るd:

"The police...There's nothing to 恐れる from them...They won't know..."

"Where to find him? I 後継するd, at all events. He's working as a woodcutter, in the forest of Brotonne."

"Yes, but...you...that was an 事故...反して the police..."

The words left her lips with the greatest difficulty. Her 発言する／表明する was trembling. And suddenly she 急ぐd at R駭ine, stammering:

"He is 逮捕（する）d?...I am sure of it!...And you have come to tell me...逮捕（する）d! 負傷させるd! Dead perhaps?...Oh, please, please!..."

She had no strength left. All her pride, all the certainty of her 広大な／多数の／重要な love gave way to an 巨大な despair and she sobbed out.

"No, he's not dead, is he? No, I feel that he's not dead. Oh, sir, how 不正な it all is! He's the gentlest man, the best that ever lived. He has changed my whole life. Everything is different since I began to love him. And I love him so! I love him! I want to go to him. Take me to him. I want them to 逮捕（する） me too. I love him...I could not live without him..."

An impulse of sympathy made Hortense put her 武器 around the girl's neck and say 温かく:

"Yes, come. He is not dead, I am sure, only 負傷させるd; and Prince R駭ine will save him. You will, won't you, R駭ine?...Come. （不足などを）補う a story for your servant: say that you're going somewhere by train and that she is not to tell anybody. Be quick. Put on a 包む. We will save him, I 断言する we will."

Rose Andr馥 went indoors and returned almost at once, disguised beyond 承認 in a long cloak and a 隠す that shrouded her 直面する; and they all took the road 支援する to Routot. At the inn, Rose Andr馥 passed as a friend whom they had been to fetch in the neighbourhood and were taking to Paris with them. R駭ine ran out to make enquiries and （機の）カム 支援する to the two women.

"It's all 権利. Dalbr鑷ue is alive. They have put him to bed in a 私的な room at the 市長's offices. He has a broken 脚 and a rather 最高気温; but all the same they 推定する／予想する to move him to Rouen tomorrow and they have telephoned there for a 自動車."

"And then?" asked Rose Andr馥, anxiously.

R駭ine smiled:

"Why, then we shall leave at daybreak. We shall （問題を）取り上げる our positions in a sunken road, ライフル銃／探して盗む in 手渡す, attack the モーター-coach and carry off Georges!"

"Oh, don't laugh!" she said, plaintively. "I am so unhappy!"

But the adventure seemed to amuse R駭ine; and, when he was alone with Hortense, he exclaimed:

"You see what comes of preferring dishonour to death! But hang it all, who could have 推定する／予想するd this? It isn't a bit the way in which things happen in the pictures! Once the man of the 支持を得ようと努めるd had carried off his 犠牲者 and considering that for three weeks there was no one to defend her, how could we imagine—we who had been 訴訟／進行 all along under the 影響（力） of the pictures—that in the space of a few hours the 犠牲者 would become a princess in love? Confound that Georges! I now understand the sly, humorous look which I surprised on his 動きやすい features! He remembered, Georges did, and he didn't care a hang for me! Oh, he tricked me nicely! And you, my dear, he tricked you too! And it was all the 影響（力） of the film. They show us, at the cinema, a brute beast, a sort of long-haired, ape-直面するd savage. What can a man like that be in real life? A brute, 必然的に, don't you agree? 井戸／弁護士席, he's nothing of the 肉親，親類d; he's a Don Juan! The humbug!"

"You will save him, won't you?" said Hortense, in a beseeching トン.

"Are you very anxious that I should?"

"Very."

"In that 事例／患者, 約束 to give me your 手渡す to kiss."

"You can have both 手渡すs, R駭ine, and 喜んで."

The night was uneventful. R駭ine had given orders for the two ladies to be waked at an 早期に hour. When they （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する, the モーター was leaving the yard and pulling up in 前線 of the inn. It was raining; and Adolphe, the chauffeur, had 直す／買収する，八百長をするd up the long, low hood and packed the luggage inside.

R駭ine called for his 法案. They all three took a cup of coffee. But, just as they were leaving the room, one of the 視察官's men （機の）カム 急ぐing in:

"Have you seen him?" he asked. "Isn't he here?"

The 視察官 himself arrived at a run, 大いに excited:

"The 囚人 has escaped! He ran 支援する through the inn! He can't be far away!"

A dozen rustics appeared like a whirlwind. They ransacked the lofts, the stables, the sheds. They scattered over the neighbourhood. But the search led to no 発見.

"Oh, hang it all!" said R駭ine, who had taken his part in the 追跡（する）. "How can it have happened?"

"How do I know?" spluttered the 視察官 in despair. "I left my three men watching in the next room. I 設立する them this morning 急速な／放蕩な asleep, stupefied by some 麻薬 which had been mixed with their ワイン! And the Dalbr鑷ue bird had flown!"

"Which way?"

"Through the window. There were evidently 共犯者s, with ropes and a ladder. And, as Dalbr鑷ue had a broken 脚, they carried him off on the 担架 itself."

"They left no traces?"

"No traces of footsteps, true. The rain has messed everything up. But they went through the yard, because the 担架's there."

"You'll find him, Mr. 視察官, there's no 疑問 of that. In any 事例／患者, you may be sure that you won't have any trouble over the 事件／事情／状勢. I shall be in Paris this evening and shall go straight to the 県, where I have 影響力のある friends."

R駭ine went 支援する to the two women in the coffee-room and Hortense at once said:

"It was you who carried him off, wasn't it? Please put Rose Andr馥's mind at 残り／休憩（する）. She is so terrified!"

He gave Rose Andr馥 his arm and led her to the car. She was staggering and very pale; and she said, in a faint 発言する／表明する:

"Are we going? And he: is he 安全な? Won't they catch him again?"

Looking 深い into her 注目する，もくろむs, he said:

"断言する to me, Rose Andr馥, that in two months, when he is 井戸／弁護士席 and when I have 証明するd his innocence, 断言する that you will go away with him to America."

"I 断言する."

"And that, once there, you will marry him."

"I 断言する."

He spoke a few words in her ear.

"Ah!" she said. "May Heaven bless you for it!"

Hortense took her seat in 前線, with R駭ine, who sat at the wheel. The 視察官, hat in 手渡す, fussed around the car until it moved off.

They drove through the forest, crossed the Seine at La Mailleraie and struck into the Havre-Rouen road.

"Take off your glove and give me your 手渡す to kiss," R駭ine ordered. "You 約束d that you would."

"Oh!" said Hortense. "But it was to be when Dalbr鑷ue was saved."

"He is saved."

"Not yet. The police are after him. They may catch him again. He will not be really saved until he is with Rose Andr馥."

"He is with Rose Andr馥," he 宣言するd.

"What do you mean?"

"Turn 一連の会議、交渉／完成する."

She did so.

In the 影をつくる／尾行する of the hood, 権利 at the 支援する, behind the chauffeur, Rose Andr馥 was ひさまづくing beside a man lying on the seat.

"Oh," stammered Hortense, "it's incredible! Then it was you who hid him last night? And he was there, in 前線 of the inn, when the 視察官 was seeing us off?"

"Lord, yes! He was there, under the cushions and rugs!"

"It's incredible!" she repeated, utterly bewildered. "It's incredible! How were you able to manage it all?"

"I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to kiss your 手渡す," he said.

She 除去するd her glove, as he bade her, and raised her 手渡す to his lips.

The car was スピード違反 between the 平和的な Seine and the white cliffs that 国境 it. They sat silent for a long while. Then he said:

"I had a talk with Dalbr鑷ue last night. He's a 罰金 fellow and is ready to do anything for Rose Andr馥. He's 権利. A man must do anything for the woman he loves. He must 充てる himself to her, 申し込む／申し出 her all that is beautiful in this world: joy and happiness...and, if she should be bored, stirring adventures to distract her, to excite her and to make her smile...or even weep."

Hortense shivered; and her 注目する，もくろむs were not やめる 解放する／自由な from 涙／ほころびs. For the first time he was alluding to the sentimental adventure that bound them by a tie which as yet was frail, but which became stronger and more 耐えるing with each of the 投機・賭けるs on which they entered together, 追求するing them feverishly and anxiously to their の近くに. Already she felt 権力のない and uneasy with this 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の man, who 支配するd events to his will and seemed to play with the 運命s of those whom he fought or 保護するd. He filled her with dread and at the same time he attracted her. She thought of him いつかs as her master, いつかs as an enemy against whom she must defend herself, but oftenest as a perturbing friend, 十分な of charm and fascination...

5. Th駻鑚e and Germaine

The 天候 was so 穏やかな that autumn that, on the 12th of October, in the morning, several families still ぐずぐず残る in their 郊外住宅s at Étretat had gone 負かす／撃墜する to the beach. The sea, lying between the cliffs and the clouds on the horizon, might have 示唆するd a mountain-lake slumbering in the hollow of the enclosing 激しく揺するs, were it not for that crispness in the 空気／公表する and those pale, soft and 不明確な／無期限の colours in the sky which give a special charm to 確かな days in Normandy.

"It's delicious," murmured Hortense. But the next moment she 追加するd: "All the same, we did not come here to enjoy the spectacle of nature or to wonder whether that 抱擁する 石／投石する Needle on our left was really at one time the home of Ars鈩e Lupin."

"We （機の）カム here," said Prince R駭ine, "because of the conversation which I overheard, a fortnight ago, in a dining-car, between a man and a woman."

"A conversation of which I was unable to catch a 選び出す／独身 word."

"If those two people could have guessed for an instant that it was possible to hear a 選び出す／独身 word of what they were 説, they would not have spoken, for their conversation was one of 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の gravity and importance. But I have very sharp ears; and though I could not follow every 宣告，判決, I 主張する that we may be 確かな of two things. First, that man and woman, who are brother and sister, have an 任命 at a ４半期/4分の1 to twelve this morning, the 12th of October, at the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す known as the Trois Mathildes, with a third person, who is married and who wishes at all costs to 回復する his or her liberty. Secondly, this 任命, at which they will come to a final 協定, is to be followed this evening by a walk along the cliffs, when the third person will bring with him or her the man or woman, I can't definitely say which, whom they want to get rid of. That is the gist of the whole thing. Now, as I know a 位置／汚点／見つけ出す called the Trois Mathildes some way above Étretat and as this is not an everyday 指名する, we （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する yesterday to 妨害する the 計画（する） of these objectionable persons."

"What 計画（する）?" asked Hortense. "For, after all, it's only your 仮定／引き受けること that there's to be a 犠牲者 and that the 犠牲者 is to be flung off the 最高の，を越す of the cliffs. You yourself told me that you heard no allusion to a possible 殺人."

"That is so. But I heard some very plain words relating to the marriage of the brother or the sister with the wife or the husband of the third person, which 暗示するs the need for a 罪，犯罪."

They were sitting on the terrace of the casino, 直面するing the stairs which run 負かす／撃墜する to the beach. They therefore overlooked the few 個人として-owned cabins on the shingle, where a party of four men were playing 橋（渡しをする）, while a group of ladies sat talking and knitting.

A short distance away and nearer to the sea was another cabin, standing by itself and の近くにd.

Half-a-dozen barelegged children were paddling in the water.

"No," said Hortense, "all this autumnal sweetness and charm fails to attract me. I have so much 約束 in all your theories that I can't help thinking, in spite of everything, of this dreadful problem. Which of those people yonder is 脅すd? Death has already selected its 犠牲者. Who is it? Is it that young, fair-haired woman, 激しく揺するing herself and laughing? Is it that tall man over there, smoking his cigar? And which of them has the thought of 殺人 hidden in his heart? All the people we see are 静かに enjoying themselves. Yet death is prowling の中で them."

"資本／首都!" said R駭ine. "You too are becoming enthusiastic. What did I tell you? The whole of life's an adventure; and nothing but adventure is 価値（がある） while. At the first breath of coming events, there you are, quivering in every 神経. You 株 in all the 悲劇s stirring around you; and the feeling of mystery awakens in the depths of your 存在. See, how closely you are 観察するing that couple who have just arrived. You never can tell: that may be the gentleman who 提案するs to do away with his wife? Or perhaps the lady 熟視する／熟考するs making away with her husband?"

"The d'Ormevals? Never! A perfectly happy couple! Yesterday, at the hotel, I had a long talk with the wife. And you yourself..."

"Oh, I played a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する of ゴルフ with Jacques d'Ormeval, who rather fancies himself as an 競技者, and I played at dolls with their two charming little girls!"

The d'Ormevals （機の）カム up and 交流d a few words with them. Madame d'Ormeval said that her two daughters had gone 支援する to Paris that morning with their governess. Her husband, a 広大な／多数の／重要な tall fellow with a yellow 耐えるd, carrying his blazer over his arm and puffing out his chest under a 細胞の shirt, complained of the heat:

"Have you the 重要な of the cabin, Th駻鑚e?" he asked his wife, when they had left R駭ine and Hortense and stopped at the 最高の，を越す of the stairs, a few yards away.

"Here it is," said the wife. "Are you going to read your papers?"

"Yes. Unless we go for a stroll?..."

"I had rather wait till the afternoon: do you mind? I have a lot of letters to 令状 this morning."

"Very 井戸／弁護士席. We'll go on the cliff."

Hortense and R駭ine 交流d a ちらりと見ること of surprise. Was this suggestion 偶発の? Or had they before them, contrary to their 期待s, the very couple of whom they were in search?

Hortense tried to laugh:

"My heart is 強くたたくing," she said. "にもかかわらず, I 絶対 辞退する to believe in anything so improbable. 'My husband and I have never had the slightest quarrel,' she said to me. No, it's やめる （疑いを）晴らす that those two get on admirably."

"We shall see presently, at the Trois Mathildes, if one of them comes to 会合，会う the brother and sister."

M. d'Ormeval had gone 負かす／撃墜する the stairs, while his wife stood leaning on the balustrade of the terrace. She had a beautiful, slender, supple 人物／姿／数字. Her （疑いを）晴らす-削減（する） profile was 強調するd by a rather too 目だつ chin when at 残り／休憩（する）; and, when it was not smiling, the 直面する gave an 表現 of sadness and 苦しむing.

"Have you lost something, Jacques?" she called out to her husband, who was stooping over the shingle.

"Yes, the 重要な," he said. "It slipped out of my 手渡す."

She went 負かす／撃墜する to him and began to look also. For two or three minutes, as they sheered off to the 権利 and remained の近くに to the 底（に届く） of the under-cliff, they were invisible to Hortense and R駭ine. Their 発言する／表明するs were covered by the noise of a 論争 which had arisen の中で the 橋（渡しをする）-players.

They 再現するd almost 同時に. Madame d'Ormeval slowly climbed a few steps of the stairs and then stopped and turned her 直面する に向かって the sea. Her husband had thrown his blazer over his shoulders and was making for the 孤立するd cabin. As he passed the 橋（渡しをする）-players, they asked him for a 決定／判定勝ち（する）, pointing to their cards spread out upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. But, with a wave of the 手渡す, he 辞退するd to give an opinion and walked on, covered the thirty yards which divided them from the cabin, opened the door and went in.

Th駻鑚e d'Ormeval （機の）カム 支援する to the terrace and remained for ten minutes sitting on a （法廷の）裁判. Then she （機の）カム out through the casino. Hortense, on leaning 今後, saw her entering one of the chalets 別館d to the H?el Hauville and, a moment later, caught sight of her again on the balcony.

"Eleven o'clock," said R駭ine. "Whoever it is, he or she, or one of the card-players, or one of their wives, it won't be long before someone goes to the 任命するd place."

にもかかわらず, twenty minutes passed and twenty-five; and no one stirred.

"Perhaps Madame d'Ormeval has gone." Hortense 示唆するd, anxiously. "She is no longer on her balcony."

"If she is at the Trois Mathildes," said R駭ine, "we will go and catch her there."

He was rising to his feet, when a fresh discussion broke out の中で the 橋（渡しをする）-players and one of them exclaimed:

"Let's put it to d'Ormeval."

"Very 井戸／弁護士席," said his adversary. "I'll 受託する his 決定／判定勝ち（する）...if he 同意s to 行為／法令／行動する as umpire. He was rather huffy just now."

They called out:

"D'Ormeval! D'Ormeval!"

They then saw that d'Ormeval must have shut the door behind him, which kept him in the half dark, the cabin 存在 one of the sort that has no window.

"He's asleep," cried one. "Let's wake him up."

All four went to the cabin, began by calling to him and, on receiving no answer, 強くたたくd on the door:

"Hi! D'Ormeval! Are you asleep?"

On the terrace Serge R駭ine suddenly leapt to his feet with so uneasy an 空気／公表する that Hortense was astonished. He muttered:

"If only it's not too late!"

And, when Hortense asked him what he meant, he tore 負かす／撃墜する the steps and started running to the cabin. He reached it just as the 橋（渡しをする）-players were trying to break in the door:

"Stop!" he ordered. "Things must be done in the 正規の／正選手 fashion."

"What things?" they asked.

He 診察するd the Venetian shutters at the 最高の，を越す of each of the 倍のing-doors and, on finding that one of the upper slats was partly broken, hung on as best he could to the roof of the cabin and cast a ちらりと見ること inside. Then he said to the four men:

"I was 権利 in thinking that, if M. d'Ormeval did not reply, he must have been 妨げるd by some serious 原因（となる）. There is every 推論する／理由 to believe that M. d'Ormeval is 負傷させるd...or dead."

"Dead!" they cried. "What do you mean? He has only just left us."

R駭ine took out his knife, prized open the lock and pulled 支援する the two doors.

There were shouts of 狼狽. M. d'Ormeval was lying flat on his 直面する, clutching his jacket and his newspaper in his 手渡すs. 血 was flowing from his 支援する and staining his shirt.

"Oh!" said someone. "He has killed himself!"

"How can he have killed himself?" said R駭ine. "The 負傷させる is 権利 in the middle of the 支援する, at a place which the 手渡す can't reach. And, besides, there's not a knife in the cabin."

The others 抗議するd:

"If so, he has been 殺人d. But that's impossible! There has been nobody here. We should have seen, if there had been. Nobody could have passed us without our seeing..."

The other men, all the ladies and the children paddling in the sea had come running up. R駭ine 許すd no one to enter the cabin, except a doctor who was 現在の. But the doctor could only say that M. d'Ormeval was dead, stabbed with a dagger.

At that moment, the 市長 and the policeman arrived, together with some people of the village. After the usual enquiries, they carried away the 団体／死体.

A few persons went on ahead to break the news to Th駻鑚e d'Ormeval, who was once more to be seen on her balcony.

* * *

And so the 悲劇 had taken place without any 手がかり（を与える） to explain how a man, 保護するd by a の近くにd door with an uninjured lock, could have been 殺人d in the space of a few minutes and in 前線 of twenty 証言，証人／目撃するs, one might almost say, twenty 観客s. No one had entered the cabin. No one had come out of it. As for the dagger with which M. d'Ormeval had been stabbed between the shoulders, it could not be traced. And all this would have 示唆するd the idea of a trick of sleight-of-手渡す 成し遂げるd by a clever conjuror, had it not 関心d a terrible 殺人, committed under the most mysterious 条件s.

Hortense was unable to follow, as R駭ine would have liked, the small party who were making for Madame d'Ormeval; she was paralysed with excitement and incapable of moving. It was the first time that her adventures with R駭ine had taken her into the very heart of the 活動／戦闘 and that, instead of 公式文書，認めるing the consequences of a 殺人, or 補助装置ing in the 追跡 of the 犯罪のs, she 設立する herself 直面するd with the 殺人 itself.

It left her trembling all over; and she stammered:

"How horrible!...The poor fellow!...Ah, R駭ine, you couldn't save him this time!...And that's what upsets me more than anything, that we could and should have saved him, since we knew of the 陰謀（を企てる）..."

R駭ine made her 匂いをかぐ at a 瓶／封じ込める of salts; and when she had やめる 回復するd her composure, he said, while 観察するing her attentively:

"So you think that there is some 関係 between the 殺人 and the 陰謀（を企てる） which we were trying to 失望させる?"

"Certainly," said she, astonished at the question.

"Then, as that 陰謀（を企てる） was hatched by a husband against his wife or by a wife against her husband, you 収容する／認める that Madame d'Ormeval...?"

"Oh, no, impossible!" she said. "To begin with, Madame d'Ormeval did not leave her rooms...and then I shall never believe that pretty woman 有能な...No, no, of course there was something else..."

"What else?"

"I don't know...You may have misunderstood what the brother and sister were 説 to each other...You see, the 殺人 has been committed under やめる different 条件s...at another hour and another place..."

"And therefore," 結論するd R駭ine, "the two 事例／患者s are not in any way 関係のある?"

"Oh," she said, "there's no making it out! It's all so strange!"

R駭ine became a little satirical:

"My pupil is doing me no credit today," he said. "Why, here is a perfectly simple story, 広げるd before your 注目する，もくろむs. You have seen it reeled off like a scene in the cinema; and it all remains as obscure to you as though you were 審理，公聴会 of an 事件／事情／状勢 that happened in a 洞穴 a hundred miles away!"

Hortense was confounded:

"What are you 説? Do you mean that you have understood it? What 手がかり（を与える）s have you to go by?"

R駭ine looked at his watch:

"I have not understood everything," he said. "The 殺人 itself, the mere 残虐な 殺人, yes. But the 必須の thing, that is to say, the psychology of the 罪，犯罪: I've no 手がかり（を与える） to that. Only, it is twelve o'clock. The brother and sister, seeing no one come to the 任命 at the Trois Mathildes, will go 負かす／撃墜する to the beach. Don't you think that we shall learn something then of the 共犯者 whom I 告発する／非難する them of having and of the 関係 between the two 事例／患者s?"

They reached the esplanade in 前線 of the Hauville chalets, with the capstans by which the fishermen 運ぶ／漁獲高 up their boats to the beach. A number of inquisitive persons were standing outside the door of one of the chalets. Two coastguards, 地位，任命するd at the door, 妨げるd them from entering.

The 市長 shouldered his way 熱望して through the （人が）群がる. He was 支援する from the 地位，任命する-office, where he had been telephoning to Le Havre, to the office of the procurator-general, and had been told that the public 検察官，検事 and an 診察するing-治安判事 would come on to Étretat in the course of the afternoon.

"That leaves us plenty of time for lunch," said R駭ine. "The 悲劇 will not be 制定するd before two or three o'clock. And I have an idea that it will be sensational."

They hurried にもかかわらず. Hortense, overwrought by 疲労，（軍の）雑役 and her 願望（する） to know what was happening, continually questioned R駭ine, who replied evasively, with his 注目する，もくろむs turned to the esplanade, which they could see through the windows of the coffee-room.

"Are you watching for those two?" asked Hortense.

"Yes, the brother and sister."

"Are you sure that they will 投機・賭ける?..."

"Look out! Here they come!"

He went out quickly.

Where the main street opened on the seafront, a lady and gentleman were 前進するing with hesitating steps, as though unfamiliar with the place. The brother was a puny little man, with a sallow complexion. He was wearing a モーターing-cap. The sister too was short, but rather stout, and was wrapped in a large cloak. She struck them as a woman of a 確かな age, but still good-looking under the thin 隠す that covered her 直面する.

They saw the groups of bystanders and drew nearer. Their gait betrayed uneasiness and hesitation.

The sister asked a question of a 船員. At the first words of his answer, which no 疑問 伝えるd the news of d'Ormeval's death, she uttered a cry and tried to 軍隊 her way through the （人が）群がる. The brother, learning in his turn what had happened, made 広大な／多数の／重要な play with his 肘s and shouted to the coastguards:

"I'm a friend of d'Ormeval's!...Here's my card! Fr馘駻ic Astaing...My sister, Germaine Astaing, knows Madame d'Ormeval intimately!...They were 推定する／予想するing us...We had an 任命!..."

They were 許すd to pass. R駭ine, who had slipped behind them, followed them in without a word, …を伴ってd by Hortense.

The d'Ormevals had four bedrooms and a sitting-room on the second 床に打ち倒す. The sister 急ぐd into one of the rooms and threw herself on her 膝s beside the bed on which the 死体 lay stretched. Th駻鑚e d'Ormeval was in the sitting-room and was sobbing in the 中央 of a small company of silent persons. The brother sat 負かす／撃墜する beside her, 熱望して 掴むd her 手渡すs and said, in a trembling 発言する／表明する:

"My poor friend!...My poor friend!..."

R駭ine and Hortense gazed at the pair of them: and Hortense whispered:

"And she's supposed to have killed him for that? Impossible!"

"にもかかわらず," 観察するd R駭ine, "they are 知識s; and we know that Astaing and his sister were also 熟知させるd with a third person who was their 共犯者. So that..."

"It's impossible!" Hortense repeated.

And, in spite of all presumption, she felt so much attracted by Th駻鑚e that, when Fr馘駻ic Astaing stood up, she proceeded straightway to sit 負かす／撃墜する beside her and consoled her in a gentle 発言する／表明する. The unhappy woman's 涙／ほころびs 苦しめるd her profoundly.

R駭ine, on the other 手渡す, 適用するd himself from the 手始め to watching the brother and sister, as though this were the only thing that 事柄d, and did not take his 注目する，もくろむs off Fr馘駻ic Astaing, who, with an 空気／公表する of 無関心／冷淡, began to make a minute 査察 of the 前提s, 診察するing the sitting-room, going into all the bedrooms, mingling with the さまざまな groups of persons 現在の and asking questions about the manner in which the 殺人 had been committed. Twice his sister （機の）カム up and spoke to him. Then he went 支援する to Madame d'Ormeval and again sat 負かす／撃墜する beside her, 十分な of earnest sympathy. Lastly, in the ロビー, he had a long conversation with his sister, after which they parted, like people who have come to a perfect understanding. Fr馘駻ic then left. These manoeuvers had lasted やめる thirty or forty minutes.

It was at this moment that the 自動車 含む／封じ込めるing the 診察するing-治安判事 and the public 検察官，検事 pulled up outside the chalets. R駭ine, who did not 推定する／予想する them until later, said to Hortense:

"We must be quick. On no account leave Madame d'Ormeval."

Word was sent up to the persons whose 証拠 might be of any service that they were to go to the beach, where the 治安判事 was beginning a 予選 調査. He would call on Madame d'Ormeval afterwards. Accordingly, all who were 現在の left the chalet. No one remained behind except the two guards and Germaine Astaing.

Germaine knelt 負かす／撃墜する for the last time beside the dead man and, bending low, with her 直面する in her 手渡すs, prayed for a long time. Then she rose and was 開始 the door on the 上陸, when R駭ine （機の）カム 今後:

"I should like a few words with you, madame."

She seemed surprised and replied:

"What is it, monsieur? I am listening."

"Not here."

"Where then, monsieur?"

"Next door, in the sitting-room."

"No," she said, はっきりと.

"Why not? Though you did not even shake 手渡すs with her, I 推定する that Madame d'Ormeval is your friend?"

He gave her no time to 反映する, drew her into the next room, の近くにd the door and, at once pouncing upon Madame d'Ormeval, who was trying to go out and return to her own room, said:

"No, madame, listen, I implore you. Madame Astaing's presence need not 運動 you away. We have very serious 事柄s to discuss, without losing a minute."

The two women, standing 直面する to 直面する, were looking at each other with the same 表現 of implacable 憎悪, in which might be read the same 混乱 of spirit and the same 抑制するd 怒り／怒る. Hortense, who believed them to be friends and who might, up to a 確かな point, have believed them to be 共犯者s, foresaw with terror the 敵意を持った 遭遇（する） which she felt to be 必然的な. She compelled Madame d'Ormeval to 再開する her seat, while R駭ine took up his position in the middle of the room and spoke in resolute トンs:

"Chance, which has placed me in 所有／入手 of part of the truth, will enable me to save you both, if you are willing to 補助装置 me with a frank explanation that will give me the particulars which I still need. Each of you knows the danger in which she stands, because each of you is conscious in her heart of the evil for which she is responsible. But you are carried away by 憎悪; and it is for me to see 明確に and to 行為／法令／行動する. The 診察するing-治安判事 will be here in half-an-hour. By that time, you must have come to an 協定."

They both started, as though 感情を害する／違反するd by such a word.

"Yes, an 協定," he repeated, in a more imperious トン. "Whether you like it or not, you will come to an 協定. You are not the only ones to be considered. There are your two little daughters, Madame d'Ormeval. Since circumstances have 始める，決める me in their path, I am 介入するing in their defence and for their safety. A 失敗, a word too much; and they are 廃虚d. That must not happen."

At the について言及する of her children, Madame d'Ormeval broke 負かす／撃墜する and sobbed. Germaine Astaing shrugged her shoulders and made a movement に向かって the door. R駭ine once more 封鎖するd the way:

"Where are you going?"

"I have been 召喚するd by the 診察するing-治安判事."

"No, you have not."

"Yes, I have. Just as all those have been who have any 証拠 to give."

"You were not on the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. You know nothing of what happened. Nobody knows anything of the 殺人."

"I know who committed it."

"That's impossible."

"It was Th駻鑚e d'Ormeval."

The 告訴，告発 was 投げつけるd 前へ／外へ in an 爆発 of 激怒（する） and with a ひどく 脅すing gesture.

"You wretched creature!" exclaimed madame d'Ormeval, 急ぐing at her. "Go! Leave the room! Oh, what a wretch the woman is!"

Hortense was trying to 抑制する her, but R駭ine whispered:

"Let them be. It's what I 手配中の，お尋ね者...to pitch them one against the other and so to let in the daylight."

Madame Astaing had made a convulsive 成果／努力 to 区 off the 侮辱 with a jest; and she sniggered:

"A wretched creature? Why? Because I have （刑事）被告 you?"

"Why? For every 推論する／理由! You're a wretched creature! You hear what I say, Germaine: you're a wretch!"

Th駻鑚e d'Ormeval was repeating the 侮辱 as though it afforded her some 救済. Her 怒り／怒る was abating. Very likely also she no longer had the strength to keep up the struggle; and it was Madame Astaing who returned to the attack, with her 握りこぶしs clenched and her 直面する distorted and suddenly 老年の by fully twenty years:

"You! You dare to 侮辱 me, you! You after the 殺人 you have committed! You dare to 解除する up your 長，率いる when the man whom you killed is lying in there on his deathbed! Ah, if one of us is a wretched creature, it's you, Th駻鑚e, and you know it! You have killed your husband! You have killed your husband!"

She leapt 今後, in the excitement of the terrible words which she was uttering; and her fingernails were almost touching her friend's 直面する.

"Oh, don't tell me you didn't kill him!" she cried. "Don't say that: I won't let you. Don't say it. The dagger is there, in your 捕らえる、獲得する. My brother felt it, while he was talking to you; and his 手渡す （機の）カム out with stains of 血 upon it: your husband's 血, Th駻鑚e. And then, even if I had not discovered anything, do you think that I should not have guessed, in the first few minutes? Why, I knew the truth at once, Th駻鑚e! When a sailor 負かす／撃墜する there answered, 'M. d'Ormeval? He has been 殺人d,' I said to myself then and there, 'It's she, it's Th駻鑚e, she killed him.'"

Th駻鑚e did not reply. She had abandoned her 態度 of 抗議する. Hortense, who was watching her with anguish, thought that she could perceive in her the despondency of those who know themselves to be lost. Her cheeks had fallen in and she wore such an 表現 of despair that Hortense, moved to compassion, implored her to defend herself:

"Please, please, explain things. When the 殺人 was committed, you were here, on the balcony...But then the dagger...how did you come to have it...? How do you explain it?..."

"Explanations!" sneered Germaine Astaing. "How could she かもしれない explain? What do outward 外見s 事柄? What does it 事柄 what anyone saw or did not see? The proof is the thing that tells...The dagger is there, in your 捕らえる、獲得する, Th駻鑚e: that's a fact...Yes, yes, it was you who did it! You killed him! You killed him in the end!...Ah, how often I've told my brother, 'She will kill him yet!' Fr馘駻ic used to try to defend you. He always had a 証拠不十分 for you. But in his innermost heart he foresaw what would happen...And now the horrible thing has been done. A を刺す in the 支援する! Coward! Coward!...And you would have me say nothing? Why, I didn't hesitate a moment! Nor did Fr馘駻ic. We looked for proofs at once...And I've 公然と非難するd you of my own 解放する／自由な will, perfectly 井戸／弁護士席 aware of what I was doing...And it's over, Th駻鑚e. You're done for. Nothing can save you now. The dagger is in that 捕らえる、獲得する which you are clutching in your 手渡す. The 治安判事 is coming; and the dagger will be 設立する, stained with the 血 of your husband. So will your pocketbook. They're both there. And they will be 設立する..."

Her 激怒（する） had incensed her so 熱心に that she was unable to continue and stood with her 手渡す outstretched and her chin twitching with nervous （軽い）地震s.

R駭ine gently took 持つ／拘留する of Madame d'Ormeval's 捕らえる、獲得する. She clung to it, but he 主張するd and said:

"Please 許す me, madame. Your friend Germaine is 権利. The 診察するing-治安判事 will be here presently; and the fact that the dagger and the pocketbook are in your 所有／入手 will lead to your 即座の 逮捕（する）. This must not happen. Please 許す me."

His insinuating 発言する／表明する 減らすd Th駻鑚e d'Ormeval's 抵抗. She 解放（する）d her fingers, one by one. He took the 捕らえる、獲得する, opened it, produced a little dagger with an ebony 扱う and a grey leather pocketbook and 静かに slipped the two into the inside pocket of his jacket.

Germaine Astaing gazed at him in amazement:

"You're mad, monsieur! What 権利 have you...?"

"These things must not be left lying about. I shan't worry now. The 治安判事 will never look for them in my pocket."

"But I shall 公然と非難する you to the police," she exclaimed, indignantly. "They shall be told!"

"No, no," he said, laughing, "you won't say anything! The police have nothing to do with this. The quarrel between you must be settled in 私的な. What an idea, to go dragging the police into every 出来事/事件 of one's life!"

Madame Astaing was choking with fury:

"But you have no 権利 to talk like this, monsieur! Who are you, after all? A friend of that woman's?"

"Since you have been attacking her, yes."

"But I'm only attacking her because she's 有罪の. For you can't 否定する it: she has killed her husband."

"I don't 否定する it," said R駭ine, calmly. "We are all agreed on that point. Jacques d'Ormeval was killed by his wife. But, I repeat, the police must not know the truth."

"They shall know it through me, monsieur, I 断言する they shall. That woman must be punished: she has committed 殺人."

R駭ine went up to her and, touching her on the shoulder:

"You asked me just now by what 権利 I was 干渉するing. And you yourself, madame?"

"I was a friend of Jacques d'Ormeval."

"Only a friend?"

She was a little taken aback, but at once pulled herself together and replied:

"I was his friend and it is my 義務 to avenge his death."

"にもかかわらず, you will remain silent, as he did."

"He did not know, when he died."

"That's where you are wrong. He could have （刑事）被告 his wife, if he had wished. He had ample time to 告発する／非難する her; and he said nothing."

"Why?"

"Because of his children."

Madame Astaing was not appeased; and her 態度 陳列する，発揮するd the same longing for 復讐 and the same detestation. But she was 影響（力）d by R駭ine in spite of herself. In the small, の近くにd room, where there was such a 衝突／不一致 of 憎悪, he was 徐々に becoming the master; and Germaine Astaing understood that it was against him that she had to struggle, while Madame d'Ormeval felt all the 慰安 of that 予期しない support which was 申し込む／申し出ing itself on the brink of the abyss:

"Thank you, monsieur," she said. "As you have seen all this so 明確に, you also know that it was for my children's sake that I did not give myself up. But for that...I am so tired...!"

And so the scene was changing and things assuming a different 面. Thanks to a few words let 落ちる in the 中央 of the 論争, the 犯人 was 解除するing her 長，率いる and taking heart, 反して her accuser was hesitating and seemed to be uneasy. And it also （機の）カム about that the accuser dared not say anything その上の and that the 犯人 was 近づくing the moment at which the need is felt of breaking silence and of speaking, やめる 自然に, words that are at once a 自白 and a 救済.

"The time, I think, has come," said R駭ine to Th駻鑚e, with the same unvarying gentleness, "when you can and せねばならない explain yourself."

She was again weeping, lying 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd in a 議長，司会を務める. She too 明らかにする／漏らすd a 直面する 老年の and 荒廃させるd by 悲しみ; and, in a very low 発言する／表明する, with no 陳列する，発揮する of 怒り／怒る, she spoke, in short, broken 宣告，判決s:

"She has been his mistress for the last four years...I can't tell you how I 苦しむd...She herself told me of it...out of sheer wickedness...Her loathing for me was even greater than her love for Jacques...and every day I had some fresh 傷害 to 耐える...She would （犯罪の）一味 me up to tell me of her 任命s with my husband...she hoped to make me 苦しむ so much I should end by 殺人，大当り myself...I did think of it いつかs, but I held out, for the children's sake...Jacques was 弱めるing. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 him to get a 離婚...and little by little he began to 同意...支配するd by her and by her brother, who is slyer than she is, but やめる as dangerous...I felt all this...Jacques was becoming 厳しい to me...He had not the courage to leave me, but I was the 障害 and he bore me a grudge...Heavens, the 拷問s I 苦しむd!..."

"You should have given him his liberty," cried Germaine Astaing. "A woman doesn't kill her husband for wanting a 離婚."

Th駻鑚e shook her 長，率いる and answered:

"I did not kill him because he 手配中の，お尋ね者 a 離婚. If he had really 手配中の，お尋ね者 it, he would have left me; and what could I have done? But your 計画（する）s had changed, Germaine; 離婚 was not enough for you; and it was something else that you would have 得るd from him, another, much more serious thing which you and your brother had 主張するd on...and to which he had 同意d...out of cowardice...in spite of himself..."

"What do you mean?" spluttered Germaine. "What other thing?"

"My death."

"You 嘘（をつく）!" cried Madame Astaing.

Th駻鑚e did not raise her 発言する／表明する. She made not a movement of aversion or indignation and 簡単に repeated:

"My death, Germaine. I have read your 最新の letters, six letters from you which he was foolish enough to leave about in his pocketbook and which I read last night, six letters in which the terrible word is not 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する, but in which it appears between every line. I trembled as I read it! That Jacques should come to this!...にもかかわらず the idea of stabbing him did not occur to me for a second. A woman like myself, Germaine, does not readily commit 殺人...If I lost my 長，率いる, it was after that...and it was your fault..."

She turned her 注目する，もくろむs to R駭ine as if to ask him if there was no danger in her speaking and 明らかにする／漏らすing the truth.

"Don't be afraid," he said. "I will be 責任のある for everything."

She drew her 手渡す across her forehead. The horrible scene was 存在 reenacted within her and was 拷問ing her. Germaine Astaing did not move, but stood with 倍のd 武器 and anxious 注目する，もくろむs, while Hortense Daniel sat distractedly を待つing the 自白 of the 罪，犯罪 and the explanation of the unfathomable mystery.

"It was after that and it was through your fault Germaine...I had put 支援する the pocketbook in the drawer where it was hidden; and I said nothing to Jacques this morning...I did not want to tell him what I knew...It was too horrible...All the same, I had to 行為／法令／行動する quickly; your letters 発表するd your secret arrival today...I thought at first of running away, of taking the train...I had mechanically 選ぶd up that dagger, to defend myself...But when Jacques and I went 負かす／撃墜する to the beach, I was 辞職するd...Yes, I had 受託するd death: 'I will die,' I thought, 'and put an end to all this nightmare!'...Only, for the children's sake, I was anxious that my death should look like an 事故 and that Jacques should have no part in it. That was why your 計画（する） of a walk on the cliff ふさわしい me...A 落ちる from the 最高の，を越す of a cliff seems やめる natural...Jacques therefore left me to go to his cabin, from which he was to join you later at the Trois Mathildes. On the way, below the terrace, he dropped the 重要な of the cabin. I went 負かす／撃墜する and began to look for it with him...And it happened then...through your fault...yes, Germaine, through your fault...Jacques' pocketbook had slipped from his jacket, without his noticing it, and, together with the pocketbook, a photograph which I 認めるd at once: a photograph, taken this year, of myself and my two children. I 選ぶd it up...and I saw...You know what I saw, Germaine. Instead of my 直面する, the 直面する in the photograph was yours!...You had put in your likeness, Germaine, and blotted me out! It was your 直面する! One of your 武器 was 一連の会議、交渉／完成する my 年上の daughter's neck; and the younger was sitting on your 膝s...It was you, Germaine, the wife of my husband, the 未来 mother of my children, you, who were going to bring them up...you, you!...Then I lost my 長，率いる. I had the dagger...Jacques was stooping...I stabbed him..."

Every word of her 自白 was 厳密に true. Those who listened to her felt this profoundly; and nothing could have given Hortense and R駭ine a keener impression of 悲劇.

She had fallen 支援する into her 議長，司会を務める, utterly exhausted. にもかかわらず, she went on speaking unintelligible words; and it was only 徐々に by leaning over her, that they were able to make out:

"I thought that there would be an 激しい抗議 and that I should be 逮捕（する）d. But no. It happened in such a way and under such 条件s that no one had seen anything. その上の, Jacques had drawn himself up at the same time as myself; and he 現実に did not 落ちる. No, he did not 落ちる! I had stabbed him; and he remained standing! I saw him from the terrace, to which I had returned. He had hung his jacket over his shoulders, evidently to hide his 負傷させる, and he moved away without staggering...or staggering so little that I alone was able to perceive it. He even spoke to some friends who were playing cards. Then he went to his cabin and disappeared...In a few moments, I （機の）カム 支援する indoors. I was 説得するd that all of this was only a bad dream...that I had not killed him...or that at the worst the 負傷させる was a slight one. Jacques would come out again. I was 確かな of it...I watched from my balcony...If I had thought for a moment that he needed 援助, I should have flown to him...But truly I didn't know...I didn't guess...People speak of presentiments: there are no such things. I was perfectly 静める, just as one is after a nightmare of which the memory is fading away...No, I 断言する to you, I knew nothing...until the moment..."

She interrupted herself, stifled by sobs.

R駭ine finished her 宣告，判決 for her,

"Until the moment when they （機の）カム and told you, I suppose?"

Th駻鑚e stammered:

"Yes. It was not till then that I was conscious of what I had done...and I felt that I was going mad and that I should cry out to all those people, 'Why, it was I who did it! Don't search! Here is the dagger...I am the 犯人!' Yes, I was going to say that, when suddenly I caught sight of my poor Jacques...They were carrying him along...His 直面する was very 平和的な, very gentle...And, in his presence, I understood my 義務, as he had understood his...He had kept silent, for the sake of the children. I would be silent too. We were both 有罪の of the 殺人 of which he was the 犠牲者; and we must both do all we could to 妨げる the 罪，犯罪 from recoiling upon them...He had seen this 明確に in his dying agony. He had had the amazing courage to keep his feet, to answer the people who spoke to him and to lock himself up to die. He had done this, wiping out all his faults with a 選び出す／独身 活動／戦闘, and in so doing had 認めるd me his forgiveness, because he was not 告発する／非難するing me...and was ordering me to 持つ／拘留する my peace...and to defend myself...against everybody...特に against you, Germaine."

She uttered these last words more 堅固に. At first wholly 圧倒するd by the unconscious 行為／法令／行動する which she had committed in 殺人，大当り her husband, she had 回復するd her strength a little in thinking of what she had done and in defending herself with such energy. 直面するd by the intriguing woman whose 憎悪 had driven both of them to death and 罪，犯罪, she clenched her 握りこぶしs, ready for the struggle, all quivering with 決意／決議.

Germaine Astaing did not flinch. She had listened without a word, with a relentless 表現 which grew harder and harder as Th駻鑚e's 自白s became 正確な. No emotion seemed to 軟化する her and no 悔恨 to 侵入する her 存在. At most, に向かって the end, her thin lips 形態／調整d themselves into a faint smile. She was 持つ／拘留するing her prey in her clutches.

Slowly, with her 注目する，もくろむs raised to a mirror, she adjusted her hat and 砕くd her 直面する. Then she walked to the door.

Th駻鑚e darted 今後:

"Where are you going?"

"Where I choose."

"To see the 診察するing-治安判事?"

"Very likely."

"You shan't pass!"

"As you please. I'll wait for him here."

"And you'll tell him what?"

"Why, all that you've said, of course, all that you've been silly enough to say. How could he 疑問 the story? You have explained it all to me so fully."

Th駻鑚e took her by the shoulders:

"Yes, but I'll explain other things to him at the same time, Germaine, things that 関心 you. If I'm 廃虚d, so shall you be."

"You can't touch me."

"I can expose you, show your letters."

"What letters?"

"Those in which my death was decided on."

"Lies, Th駻鑚e! You know that famous 陰謀（を企てる） 存在するs only in your imagination. Neither Jacques nor I wished for your death."

"You did, at any 率. Your letters 非難する you."

"Lies! They were the letters of a friend to a friend."

"Letters of a mistress to her paramour."

"証明する it."

"They are there, in Jacques' pocketbook."

"No, they're not."

"What's that you say?"

"I say that those letters belonged to me. I've taken them 支援する, or rather my brother has."

"You've stolen them, you wretch! And you shall give them 支援する again," cried Th駻鑚e, shaking her.

"I 港／避難所't them. My brother kept them. He has gone."

Th駻鑚e staggered and stretched out her 手渡すs to R駭ine with an 表現 of despair. R駭ine said:

"What she says is true. I watched the brother's 訴訟／進行s while he was feeling in your 捕らえる、獲得する. He took out the pocketbook, looked through it with his sister, （機の）カム and put it 支援する again and went off with the letters."

R駭ine paused and 追加するd,

"Or, at least, with five of them."

The two women moved closer to him. What did he ーするつもりである to 伝える? If Fr馘駻ic Astaing had taken away only five letters, what had become of the sixth?

"I suppose," said R駭ine, "that, when the pocketbook fell on the shingle, that sixth letter slipped out at the same time as the photograph and that M. d'Ormeval must have 選ぶd it up, for I 設立する it in the pocket of his blazer, which had been hung up 近づく the bed. Here it is. It's 調印するd Germaine Astaing and it is やめる enough to 証明する the writer's 意向s and the murderous counsels which she was 圧力（をかける）ing upon her lover."

Madame Astaing had turned grey in the 直面する and was so much disconcerted that she did not try to defend herself. R駭ine continued, 演説（する）／住所ing his 発言／述べるs to her:

"To my mind, madame, you are 責任がある all that happened. Penniless, no 疑問, and at the end of your 資源s, you tried to 利益（をあげる） by the passion with which you 奮起させるd M. d'Ormeval in order to make him marry you, in spite of all the 障害s, and to lay your 手渡すs upon his fortune. I have proofs of this greed for money and these abominable 計算／見積りs and can 供給（する） them if need be. A few minutes after I had felt in the pocket of that jacket, you did the same. I had 除去するd the sixth letter, but had left a slip of paper which you looked for 熱望して and which also must have dropped out of the pocketbook. It was an uncrossed cheque for a hundred thousand フランs, drawn by M. d'Ormeval in your brother's 指名する...just a little wedding-現在の...what we might call pin-money. 事実上の／代理 on your 指示／教授／教育s, your brother dashed off by モーター to Le Havre to reach the bank before four o'clock. I may as 井戸／弁護士席 tell you that he will not have cashed the cheque, for I had a telephone-message sent to the bank to 発表する the 殺人 of M. d'Ormeval, which stops all 支払い（額）s. The upshot of all this is that the police, if you 固執する in your 計画／陰謀s of 復讐, will have in their 手渡すs all the proofs that are 手配中の，お尋ね者 against you and your brother. I might 追加する, as an edifying piece of 証拠, the story of the conversation which I overheard between your brother and yourself in a dining-car on the 鉄道 between Brest and Paris, a fortnight ago. But I feel sure that you will not 運動 me to 可決する・採択する these extreme 対策 and that we understand each other. Isn't that so?"

Natures like Madame Astaing's, which are violent and headstrong so long as a fight is possible and while a gleam of hope remains, are easily swayed in 敗北・負かす. Germaine was too intelligent not to しっかり掴む the fact that the least 試みる／企てる at 抵抗 would be 粉々にするd by such an adversary as this. She was in his 手渡すs. She could but 産する／生じる.

She therefore did not indulge in any playacting, nor in any demonstration such as 脅しs, 爆発s of fury or hysterics. She 屈服するd:

"We are agreed," she said. "What are your 条件?"

"Go away. If ever you are called upon for your 証拠, say that you know nothing."

She walked away. At the door, she hesitated and then, between her teeth, said:

"The cheque."

R駭ine looked at Madame d'Ormeval, who 宣言するd:

"Let her keep it. I would not touch that money."

* * *

When R駭ine had given Th駻鑚e d'Ormeval 正確な 指示／教授／教育s as to how she was to behave at the enquiry and to answer the questions put to her, he left the chalet, …を伴ってd by Hortense Daniel.

On the beach below, the 治安判事 and the public 検察官，検事 were continuing their 調査s, taking 測定s, 診察するing the 証言，証人／目撃するs and 一般に laying their 長，率いるs together.

"When I think," said Hortense, "that you have the dagger and M. d'Ormeval's pocketbook on you!"

"And it strikes you as awfully dangerous, I suppose?" he said, laughing. "It strikes me as awfully comic."

"Aren't you afraid?"

"Of what?"

"That they may 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う something?"

"Lord, they won't 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う a thing! We shall tell those good people what we saw and our 証拠 will only 増加する their perplexity, for we saw nothing at all. For prudence sake we will stay a day or two, to see which way the 勝利，勝つd is blowing. But it's やめる settled: they will never be able to make 長，率いる or tail of the 事柄."

"にもかかわらず, you guessed the secret and from the first. Why?"

"Because, instead of 捜し出すing difficulties where 非，不，無 存在する, as people 一般に do, I always put the question as it should be put; and the 解答 comes やめる 自然に. A man goes to his cabin and locks himself in. Half an hour later, he is 設立する inside, dead. No one has gone in. What has happened? To my mind there is only one answer. There is no need to think about it. As the 殺人 was not committed in the cabin, it must have been committed beforehand and the man was already mortally 負傷させるd when he entered his cabin. And forthwith the truth in this particular 事例／患者 appeared to me. Madame d'Ormeval, who was to have been killed this evening, forestalled her 殺害者s and while her husband was stooping to the ground, in a moment of frenzy stabbed him in the 支援する. There was nothing left to do but look for the 推論する／理由s that 誘発するd her 活動／戦闘. When I knew them, I took her part unreservedly. That's the whole story."

The day was beginning to 病弱な. The blue of the sky was becoming darker and the sea, even more 平和的な than before.

"What are you thinking of?" asked R駭ine, after a moment.

"I am thinking," she said, "that if I too were the 犠牲者 of some machination, I should 信用 you whatever happened, 信用 you through and against all. I know, as certainly as I know that I 存在する, that you would save me, whatever the 障害s might be. There is no 限界 to the 力／強力にする of your will."

He said, very softly:

"There is no 限界 to my wish to please you."

6. The Lady with the Hatchet

One of the most 理解できない 出来事/事件s that に先行するd the 広大な／多数の／重要な war was certainly the one which was known as the episode of the lady with the hatchet. The 解答 of the mystery was unknown and would never have been known, had not circumstances in the cruellest fashion 強いるd Prince R駭ine—or should I say, Ars鈩e Lupin—to （問題を）取り上げる the 事柄 and had I not been able today to tell the true story from the 詳細（に述べる）s 供給（する）d by him.

Let me recite the facts. In a space of eighteen months, five women disappeared, five women of different 駅／配置するs in life, all between twenty and thirty years of age and living in Paris or the Paris 地区.

I will give their 指名するs: Madame Ladoue, the wife of a doctor; Mlle. Ardant, the daughter of a 銀行業者; Mlle. Covereau, a washerwoman of Courbevoie; Mlle. Honorine Vernisset, a dressmaker; and Madame Grollinger, an artist. These five women disappeared without the 可能性 of discovering a 選び出す／独身 particular to explain why they had left their homes, why they did not return to them, who had enticed them away, and where and how they were 拘留するd.

Each of these women, a week after her 出発, was 設立する somewhere or other in the western 郊外s of Paris; and each time it was a dead 団体／死体 that was 設立する, the dead 団体／死体 of a woman who had been killed by a blow on the 長，率いる from a hatchet. And each time, not far from the woman, who was 堅固に bound, her 直面する covered with 血 and her 団体／死体 emaciated by 欠如（する） of food, the 示すs of carriage-wheels 証明するd that the 死体 had been driven to the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す.

The five 殺人s were so much alike that there was only a 選び出す／独身 調査, embracing all the five enquiries and, for that 事柄, 主要な to no result. A woman disappeared; a week later, to a day, her 団体／死体 was discovered; and that was all. The 社債s that fastened her were 類似の in each 事例／患者; so were the 跡をつけるs left by the wheels; so were the blows of the hatchet, all of which were struck vertically at the 最高の，を越す and 権利 in the middle of the forehead.

The 動機 of the 罪，犯罪? The five women had been 完全に stripped of their jewels, purses and other 反対するs of value. But the 強盗s might 井戸／弁護士席 have been せいにするd to marauders or any passersby, since the 団体／死体s were lying in 砂漠d 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs. Were the 当局 to believe in the 死刑執行 of a 計画（する） of 復讐 or of a 計画（する） ーするつもりであるd to do away with the 一連の persons 相互に connected, persons, for instance, likely to 利益 by a 未来 相続物件? Here again the same obscurity 勝つ／広く一帯に広がるd. Theories were built up, only to be 破壊するd forthwith by an examination of the facts. 追跡するs were followed and at once abandoned.

And suddenly there was a sensation. A woman engaged in 広範囲にわたる the roads 選ぶd up on the pavement a little notebook which she brought to the 地元の police-駅／配置する. The leaves of this notebook were all blank, excepting one, on which was written a 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of the 殺人d women, with their 指名するs 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する in order of date and …を伴ってd by three 人物／姿／数字s: Ladoue, 132; Vernisset, 118; and so on.

Certainly no importance would have been 大（公）使館員d to these 入ること／参加（者）s, which anybody might have written, since everyone was 熟知させるd with the 悪意のある 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）. But, instead of five 指名するs, it 含むd six! Yes, below the words "Grollinger, 128," there appeared "Williamson, 114." Did this 示す a sixth 殺人?

The 明白に English origin of the 指名する 限られた／立憲的な the field of the 調査s, which did not in fact take long. It was ascertained that, a fortnight ago, a 行方不明になる Hermione Williamson, a governess in a family at Auteuil, had left her place to go 支援する to England and that, since then, her sisters, though she had written to tell them that she was coming over, had heard no more of her.

A fresh enquiry was 学校／設けるd. A postman 設立する the 団体／死体 in the Meudon 支持を得ようと努めるd. 行方不明になる Williamson's skull was 分裂（する） 負かす／撃墜する the middle.

I need not 述べる the public excitement at this 行う／開催する／段階 nor the shudder of horror which passed through the （人が）群がる when it read this 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）, written without a 疑問 in the 殺害者's own 手渡す. What could be more frightful than such a 記録，記録的な／記録する, kept up to date like a careful tradesman's ledger:

"On such a day, I killed so-and-so; on such a day so-and-so!"

And the sum total was six dead 団体／死体s.

Against all 期待, the 専門家s in handwriting had no difficulty in agreeing and 全員一致で 宣言するd that the 令状ing was "that of a woman, an educated woman, 所有するing artistic tastes, imagination and an 極端に 極度の慎重さを要する nature." The "lady with the hatchet," as the 新聞記者／雑誌記者s christened her, was decidedly no ordinary person; and 得点する／非難する／２０s of newspaper-articles made a special 熟考する／考慮する of her 事例／患者, exposing her mental 条件 and losing themselves in farfetched explanations.

にもかかわらず it was the writer of one of these articles, a young 新聞記者／雑誌記者 whose chance 発見 made him the centre of public attention, who 供給（する）d the one element of truth and shed upon the 不明瞭 the only ray of light that was to 侵入する it. In casting about for the meaning of the 人物／姿／数字s which followed the six 指名するs, he had come to ask himself whether those 人物／姿／数字s did not 簡単に 代表する the number of the days separating one 罪，犯罪 from the next. All that he had to do was to check the dates. He at once 設立する that his theory was 訂正する. Mlle. Vernisset had been carried off one hundred and thirty-two days after Madame Ladoue; Mlle. Covereau one hundred and eighteen days after Honorine Vernisset; and so on.

There was therefore no room for 疑問; and the police had no choice but to 受託する a 解答 which so 正確に fitted the circumstances: the 人物／姿／数字s corresponded with the intervals. There was no mistake in the 記録，記録的な／記録するs of the lady with the hatchet.

But then one deduction became 必然的な. 行方不明になる Williamson, the 最新の 犠牲者, had been carried off on the 26th of June last, and her 指名する was followed by the 人物／姿／数字s 114: was it not to be 推定するd that a fresh 罪，犯罪 would be committed a hundred and fourteen days later, that is to say, on the 18th of October? Was it not probable that the horrible 商売／仕事 would be repeated in 一致 with the 殺害者's secret 意向s? Were they not bound to 追求する to its 論理（学）の 結論 the argument which ascribed to the 人物／姿／数字s—to all the 人物／姿／数字s, to the last 同様に as to the others—their value as 結局の dates?

Now it was 正確に this deduction which was drawn and was 存在 重さを計るd and discussed during the few days that に先行するd the 18th of October, when logic 需要・要求するd the 業績／成果 of yet another 行為／法令／行動する of the abominable 悲劇. And it was only natural that, on the morning of that day, Prince R駭ine and Hortense, when making an 任命 by telephone for the evening, should allude to the newspaper-articles which they had both been reading:

"Look out!" said R駭ine, laughing. "If you 会合，会う the lady with the hatchet, take the other 味方する of the road!"

"And, if the good lady carries me off, what am I to do?"

"まき散らす your path with little white pebbles and say, until the very moment when the hatchet flashes in the 空気／公表する, 'I have nothing to 恐れる; he will save me.' He is myself...and I kiss your 手渡すs. Till this evening, my dear."

That afternoon, R駭ine had an 任命 with Rose Andr馥 and Dalbr鑷ue to arrange for their 出発 for the 明言する／公表するs.* Before four and seven o'clock, he bought the different 版s of the evening papers. 非，不，無 of them 報告（する）／憶測d an 誘拐.

[* See The Telltale Film]

At nine o'clock he went to the Gymnase, where he had taken a 私的な box.

At half-past nine, as Hortense had not arrived, he rang her up, though without thought of 苦悩. The maid replied that Madame Daniel had not come in yet.

掴むd with a sudden 恐れる, R駭ine hurried to the furnished flat which Hortense was 占領するing for the time 存在, 近づく the Parc Monceau, and questioned the maid, whom he had engaged for her and who was 完全に 充てるd to him. The woman said that her mistress had gone out at two o'clock, with a stamped letter in her 手渡す, 説 that she was going to the 地位，任命する and that she would come 支援する to dress. This was the last that had been seen of her.

"To whom was the letter 演説（する）／住所d?"

"To you, sir. I saw the 令状ing on the envelope: Prince Serge R駭ine."

He waited until midnight, but in vain. Hortense did not return; nor did she return next day.

"Not a word to anyone," said R駭ine to the maid. "Say that your mistress is in the country and that you are going to join her."

For his own part, he had not a 疑問: Hortense's 見えなくなる was explained by the very fact of the date, the 18th of October. She was the seventh 犠牲者 of the lady with the hatchet.

* * *

"The 誘拐," said R駭ine to himself, "に先行するs the blow of the hatchet by a week. I have, therefore, at the 現在の moment, seven 十分な days before me. Let us say six, to 避ける any surprise. This is Saturday: Hortense must be 始める，決める 解放する／自由な by midday on Friday; and, to make sure of this, I must know her hiding-place by nine o'clock on Thursday evening at 最新の."

R駭ine wrote:

THURSDAY EVENING, NINE O'CLOCK,

in big letters, on a card which he nailed above the mantelpiece in his 熟考する／考慮する. Then at midday on Saturday, the day after the 見えなくなる, he locked himself into the 熟考する／考慮する, after telling his man not to 乱す him except for meals and letters.

He spent four days there, almost without moving. He had すぐに sent for a 始める，決める of all the 主要な newspapers which had spoken in 詳細（に述べる） of the first six 罪，犯罪s. When he had read and reread them, he の近くにd the shutters, drew the curtains and lay 負かす／撃墜する on the sofa in the dark, with the door bolted, thinking.

By Tuesday evening he was no その上の 前進するd than on the Saturday. The 不明瞭 was as dense as ever. He had not discovered the smallest 手がかり（を与える） for his 指導／手引, nor could he see the slightest 推論する／理由 to hope.

At times, notwithstanding his 巨大な 力／強力にする of self-支配（する）／統制する and his 制限のない 信用／信任 in the 資源s at his 処分, at times he would 地震 with anguish. Would he arrive in time? There was no 推論する／理由 why he should see more 明確に during the last few days than during those which had already elapsed. And this meant that Hortense Daniel would 必然的に be 殺人d.

The thought 拷問d him. He was 大（公）使館員d to Hortense by a much stronger and deeper feeling than the 外見 of the relations between them would have led an onlooker to believe. The curiosity at the beginning, the first 願望（する）, the impulse to 保護する Hortense, to distract her, to 奮起させる her with a relish for 存在: all this had 簡単に turned to love. Neither of them was aware of it, because they barely saw each other save at 批判的な times when they were 占領するd with the adventures of others and not with their own. But, at the first 猛攻撃 of danger, R駭ine realized the place which Hortense had taken in his life and he was in despair at knowing her to be a 囚人 and a 殉教者 and at 存在 unable to save her.

He spent a feverish, agitated night, turning the 事例／患者 over and over from every point of 見解（をとる）. The Wednesday morning was also a terrible time for him. He was losing ground. Giving up his hermit-like seclusion, he threw open the windows and paced to and fro through his rooms, ran out into the street and （機の）カム in again, as though 逃げるing before the thought that obsessed him:

"Hortense is 苦しむing...Hortense is in the depths...She sees the hatchet...She is calling to me...She is entreating me...And I can do nothing..."

It was at five o'clock in the afternoon that, on 診察するing the 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of the six 指名するs, he received that little inward shock which is a sort of signal of the truth that is 存在 sought for. A light 発射 through his mind. It was not, to be sure, that brilliant light in which every 詳細（に述べる） is made plain, but it was enough to tell him in which direction to move.

His 計画（する） of （選挙などの）運動をする was formed at once. He sent Adolphe, his chauffeur, to the 主要な／長／主犯 newspapers, with a few lines which were to appear in type の中で the next morning's 宣伝s. Adolphe was also told to go to the laundry at Courbevoie, where Mlle. Covereau, the second of the six 犠牲者s, had been 雇うd.

On the Thursday, R駭ine did not 動かす out of doors. In the afternoon, he received several letters in reply to his 宣伝. Then two 電報電信s arrived. Lastly, at three o'clock, there （機の）カム a pneumatic letter, 耐えるing the Trocad駻o postmark, which seemed to be what he was 推定する／予想するing.

He turned up a directory, 公式文書，認めるd an 演説（する）／住所—"M. de Lourtier-Vaneau, retired 植民地の 知事, 47 bis, Avenue Kl饕er"—and ran 負かす／撃墜する to his car:

"Adolphe, 47 bis, Avenue Kl饕er."

* * *

He was shown into a large 熟考する／考慮する furnished with magnificent bookcases 含む／封じ込めるing old 容積／容量s in 高くつく／犠牲の大きい bindings. M. de Lourtier-Vaneau was a man still in the prime of life, wearing a わずかに grizzled 耐えるd and, by his affable manners and 本物の distinction, 命令（する）ing 信用／信任 and liking.

"M. de Lourtier," said R駭ine, "I have 投機・賭けるd to call on your excellency because I read in last year's newspapers that you used to know one of the 犠牲者s of the lady with the hatchet, Honorine Vernisset."

"Why, of course we knew her!" cried M. de Lourtier. "My wife used to 雇う her as a dressmaker by the day. Poor girl!"

"M. de Lourtier, a lady of my 知識 has disappeared as the other six 犠牲者s disappeared."

"What!" exclaimed M. de Lourtier, with a start. "But I have followed the newspapers carefully. There was nothing on the 18th of October."

"Yes, a woman of whom I am very fond, Madame Hortense Daniel, was 誘拐するd on the 17th of October."

"And this is the 22nd!"

"Yes; and the 殺人 will be committed on the 24th."

"Horrible! Horrible! It must be 妨げるd at all costs..."

"And I shall perhaps 後継する in 妨げるing it, with your excellency's 援助."

"But have you been to the police?"

"No. We are 直面するd by mysteries which are, so to speak, 絶対の and compact, which 申し込む／申し出 no gap through which the keenest 注目する，もくろむs can see and which it is useless to hope to （疑いを）晴らす up by ordinary methods, such as 査察 of the scenes of the 罪，犯罪s, police enquiries, searching for 指紋s and so on. As 非，不，無 of those 訴訟／進行s served any good 目的 in the previous 事例／患者s, it would be a waste of time to 訴える手段／行楽地 to them in a seventh, 類似の 事例／患者. An enemy who 陳列する，発揮するs such 技術 and subtlety would not leave behind her any of those clumsy traces which are the first things that a professional 探偵，刑事 掴むs upon."

"Then what have you done?"

"Before taking any 活動／戦闘, I have 反映するd. I gave four days to thinking the 事柄 over."

M. de Lourtier-Vaneau 診察するd his 訪問者 closely and, with a touch of irony, asked:

"And the result of your meditations...?"

"To begin with," said R駭ine, 辞退するing to be put out of countenance, "I have submitted all these 事例／患者s to a 包括的な 調査する, which hitherto no one else had done. This enabled me to discover their general meaning, to put aside all the 絡まる of embarrassing theories and, since no one was able to agree as to the 動機s of all this filthy 商売／仕事, to せいにする it to the only class of persons 有能な of it."

"That is to say?"

"Lunatics, your excellency."

M. de Lourtier-Vaneau started:

"Lunatics? What an idea!"

"M. de Lourtier, the woman known as the lady with the hatchet is a madwoman."

"But she would be locked up!"

"We don't know that she's not. We don't know that she is not one of those half-mad people, 明らかに 害のない, who are watched so わずかに that they have 十分な 範囲 to indulge their little manias, their wild-beast instincts. Nothing could be more 背信の than these creatures. Nothing could be more crafty, more 患者, more 執拗な, more dangerous and at the same time more absurd and more 論理（学）の, more slovenly and more methodical. All these epithets, M. de Lourtier, may be 適用するd to the doings of the lady with the hatchet. The obsession of an idea and the continual repetition of an 行為／法令／行動する are 特徴 of the maniac. I do not yet know the idea by which the lady with the hatchet is obsessed but I do know the 行為／法令／行動する that results from it; and it is always the same. The 犠牲者 is bound with 正確に 類似の ropes. She is killed after the same number of days. She is struck by an 同一の blow, with the same 器具, in the same place, the middle of the forehead, producing an 絶対 vertical 負傷させる. An ordinary 殺害者 陳列する，発揮するs some variety. His trembling 手渡す swerves aside and strikes awry. The lady with the hatchet does not tremble. It is as though she had taken 測定s; and the 辛勝する／優位 of her 武器 does not swerve by a hair's breadth. Need I give you any その上の proofs or 診察する all the other 詳細（に述べる）s with you? Surely not. You now 所有する the 重要な to the riddle; and you know as I do that only a lunatic can behave in this way, stupidly, savagely, mechanically, like a striking clock or the blade of the guillotine..."

M. de Lourtier-Vaneau nodded his 長，率いる:

"Yes, that is so. One can see the whole 事件／事情／状勢 from that angle...and I am beginning to believe that this is how one せねばならない see it. But, if we 収容する／認める that this madwoman has the sort of mathematical logic which 治める／統治するd the 殺人s of the six 犠牲者s, I see no 関係 between the 犠牲者s themselves. She struck at 無作為の. Why this 犠牲者 rather than that?"

"Ah," said R駭ine. "Your excellency is asking me a question which I asked myself from the first moment, the question which sums up the whole problem and which cost me so much trouble to solve! Why Hortense Daniel rather than another? の中で two millions of women who might have been selected, why Hortense? Why little Vernisset? Why 行方不明になる Williamson? If the 事件／事情／状勢 is such as I conceived it, as a whole, that is to say, based upon the blind and fantastic logic of a madwoman, a choice was 必然的に 演習d. Now in what did that choice consist? What was the 質, or the defect, or the 調印する needed to induce the lady with the hatchet to strike? In a word, if she chose—and she must have chosen—what directed her choice?"

"Have you 設立する the answer?"

R駭ine paused and replied:

"Yes, your excellency, I have. And I could have 設立する it at the very 手始め, since all that I had to do was to make a careful examination of the 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of 犠牲者s. But these flashes of truth are never kindled save in a brain overstimulated by 成果／努力 and reflection. I 星／主役にするd at the 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） twenty times over, before that little 詳細（に述べる） took a 限定された 形態／調整."

"I don't follow you," said M. de Lourtier-Vaneau.

"M. de Lourtier, it may be 公式文書，認めるd that, if a number of persons are brought together in any 処理／取引, or 罪，犯罪, or public スキャンダル or whatnot, they are almost invariably 述べるd in the same way. On this occasion, the newspapers never について言及するd anything more than their surnames in speaking of Madame Ladoue, Mlle. Ardent or Mlle. Covereau. On the other 手渡す, Mlle. Vernisset and 行方不明になる Williamson were always 述べるd by their Christian 指名するs 同様に: Honorine and Hermione. If the same thing had been done in the 事例／患者 of all the six 犠牲者s, there would have been no mystery."

"Why not?"

"Because we should at once have realized the relation 存在するing between the six unfortunate women, as I myself suddenly realized it on comparing those two Christian 指名するs with that of Hortense Daniel. You understand now, don't you? You see the three Christian 指名するs before your 注目する，もくろむs..."

M. de Lourtier-Vaneau seemed to be perturbed. Turning a little pale, he said:

"What do you mean? What do you mean?"

"I mean," continued R駭ine, in a （疑いを）晴らす 発言する／表明する, sounding each syllable 分かれて, "I mean that you see before your 注目する，もくろむs three Christian 指名するs which all three begin with the same 初期の and which all three, by a remarkable coincidence, consist of the same number of letters, as you may 証明する. If you enquire at the Courbevoie laundry, where Mlle. Covereau used to work, you will find that her 指名する was Hilairie. Here again we have the same 初期の and the same number of letters. There is no need to 捜し出す any さらに先に. We are sure, are we not, that the Christian 指名するs of all the 犠牲者s 申し込む／申し出 the same peculiarities? And this gives us, with 絶対の certainty, the 重要な to the problem which was 始める，決める us. It explains the madwoman's choice. We now know the 関係 between the unfortunate 犠牲者s. There can be no mistake about it. It's that and nothing else. And how this method of choosing 確認するs my theory! What proof of madness! Why kill these women rather than any others? Because their 指名するs begin with an H and consist of eight letters! You understand me, M. de Lourtier, do you not? The number of letters is eight. The 初期の letter is the eighth letter of the alphabet; and the word huit, eight, begins with an H. Always the letter H. And the 器具／実施する used to commit the 罪，犯罪 was a hatchet. Is your excellency 用意が出来ている to tell me that the lady with the hatchet is not a madwoman?"

R駭ine interrupted himself and went up to M. de Lourtier-Vaneau:

"What's the 事柄, your excellency? Are you unwell?"

"No, no," said M. de Lourtier, with the perspiration streaming 負かす／撃墜する his forehead. "No...but all this story is so upsetting! Only think, I knew one of the 犠牲者s! And then..."

R駭ine took a water-瓶／封じ込める and tumbler from a small （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, filled the glass and 手渡すd it to M. de Lourtier, who sipped a few mouthfuls from it and then, pulling himself together, continued, in a 発言する／表明する which he strove to make firmer than it had been:

"Very 井戸／弁護士席. We'll 収容する／認める your supposition. Even so, it is necessary that it should lead to 有形の results. What have you done?"

"This morning I published in all the newspapers an 宣伝 worded as follows: 'Excellent cook 捜し出すs 状況／情勢. 令状 before 5 p.m. to Herminie, Boulevard Haussmann, etc.' You continue to follow me, don't you, M. de Lourtier? Christian 指名するs beginning with an H and consisting of eight letters are 極端に rare and are all rather out of date: Herminie, Hilairie, Hermione. 井戸／弁護士席, these Christian 指名するs, for 推論する／理由s which I do not understand, are 必須の to the madwoman. She cannot do without them. To find women 耐えるing one of these Christian 指名するs and for this 目的 only she 召喚するs up all her remaining 力／強力にするs of 推論する／理由, discernment, reflection and 知能. She 追跡（する）s about. She asks questions. She lies in wait. She reads newspapers which she hardly understands, but in which 確かな 詳細（に述べる）s, 確かな 資本／首都 letters catch her 注目する，もくろむ. And その結果 I did not 疑問 for a second that this 指名する of Herminie, printed in large type, would attract her attention and that she would be caught today in the 罠（にかける） of my 宣伝."

"Did she 令状?" asked M. de Lourtier-Vaneau, anxiously.

"Several ladies," R駭ine continued, "wrote the letters which are usual in such 事例／患者s, to 申し込む／申し出 a home to the いわゆる Herminie. But I received an 表明する letter which struck me as 利益／興味ing."

"From whom?"

"Read it, M. de Lourtier."

M. de Lourtier-Vaneau snatched the sheet from R駭ine's 手渡すs and cast a ちらりと見ること at the 署名. His first movement was one of surprise, as though he had 推定する／予想するd something different. Then he gave a long, loud laugh of something like joy and 救済.

"Why do you laugh, M. de Lourtier? You seem pleased."

"Pleased, no. But this letter is 調印するd by my wife."

"And you were afraid of finding something else?"

"Oh no! But since it's my wife..."

He did not finish his 宣告，判決 and said to R駭ine:

"Come this way."

He led him through a passage to a little 製図／抽選-room where a fair-haired lady, with a happy and tender 表現 on her comely 直面する, was sitting in the 中央 of three children and helping them with their lessons.

She rose. M. de Lourtier 簡潔に 現在のd his 訪問者 and asked his wife:

"Suzanne, is this 表明する message from you?"

"To Mlle. Herminie, Boulevard Haussmann? Yes," she said, "I sent it. As you know, our parlourmaid's leaving and I'm looking out for a new one."

R駭ine interrupted her:

"Excuse me, madame. Just one question: where did you get the woman's 演説（する）／住所?"

She 紅潮／摘発するd. Her husband 主張するd:

"Tell us, Suzanne. Who gave you the 演説（する）／住所?"

"I was rung up."

"By whom?"

She hesitated and then said:

"Your old nurse."

"F駘icienne?"

"Yes."

M. de Lourtier 削減（する） short the conversation and, without permitting R駭ine to ask any more questions, took him 支援する to the 熟考する／考慮する:

"You see, monsieur, that pneumatic letter （機の）カム from a やめる natural source. F駘icienne, my old nurse, who lives not far from Paris on an allowance which I make her, read your 宣伝 and told Madame de Lourtier of it. For, after all," he 追加するd laughing, "I don't suppose that you 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う my wife of 存在 the lady with the hatchet."

"No."

"Then the 出来事/事件 is の近くにd...at least on my 味方する. I have done what I could, I have listened to your arguments and I am very sorry that I can be of no more use to you..."

He drank another glass of water and sat 負かす／撃墜する. His 直面する was distorted. R駭ine looked at him for a few seconds, as a man will look at a failing adversary who has only to receive the ノックアウト blow, and, sitting 負かす／撃墜する beside him, suddenly gripped his arm:

"Your excellency, if you do not speak, Hortense Daniel will be the seventh 犠牲者."

"I have nothing to say, monsieur! What do you think I know?"

"The truth! My explanations have made it plain to you. Your 苦しめる, your terror are 肯定的な proofs."

"But, after all, monsieur, if I knew, why should I be silent?"

"For 恐れる of スキャンダル. There is in your life, so a 深遠な intuition 保証するs me, something that you are constrained to hide. The truth about this monstrous 悲劇, which suddenly flashed upon you, this truth, if it were known, would （一定の）期間 dishonour to you, 不名誉...and you are 縮むing from your 義務."

M. de Lourtier did not reply. R駭ine leant over him and, looking him in the 注目する，もくろむs, whispered:

"There will be no スキャンダル. I shall be the only person in the world to know what has happened. And I am as much 利益／興味d as yourself in not attracting attention, because I love Hortense Daniel and do not wish her 指名する to be mixed up in your horrible story."

They remained 直面する to 直面する during a long interval. R駭ine's 表現 was 厳しい and unyielding. M. de Lourtier felt that nothing would bend him if the necessary words remained unspoken; but he could not bring himself to utter them:

"You are mistaken," he said. "You think you have seen things that don't 存在する."

R駭ine received a sudden and terrifying 有罪の判決 that, if this man took 避難 in a stolid silence, there was no hope for Hortense Daniel; and he was so much infuriated by the thought that the 重要な to the riddle lay there, within reach of his 手渡す, that he clutched M. de Lourtier by the throat and 軍隊d him backwards:

"I'll have no more lies! A woman's life is at 火刑／賭ける! Speak...and speak at once! If not...!"

M. de Lourtier had no strength left in him. All 抵抗 was impossible. It was not that R駭ine's attack alarmed him, or that he was 産する／生じるing to this 行為／法令／行動する of 暴力／激しさ, but he felt 鎮圧するd by that indomitable will, which seemed to 収容する／認める no 障害, and he stammered:

"You are 権利. It is my 義務 to tell everything, whatever comes of it."

"Nothing will come of it, I 誓約（する） my word, on 条件 that you save Hortense Daniel. A moment's hesitation may undo us all. Speak. No 詳細（に述べる）s, but the actual facts."

"Madame de Lourtier is not my wife. The only woman who has the 権利 to 耐える my 指名する is one whom I married when I was a young 植民地の 公式の／役人. She was a rather eccentric woman, of feeble mentality and incredibly 支配する to impulses that 量d to monomania. We had two children, twins, whom she worshipped and in whose company she would no 疑問 have 回復するd her mental balance and moral health, when, by a stupid 事故—a passing carriage—they were killed before her 注目する，もくろむs. The poor thing went mad...with the silent, 隠しだてする madness which you imagined. Some time afterwards, when I was 任命するd to an Algerian 駅／配置する, I brought her to フラン and put her in the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of a worthy creature who had nursed me and brought me up. Two years later, I made the 知識 of the woman who was to become the joy of my life. You saw her just now. She is the mother of my children and she passes as my wife. Are we to sacrifice her? Is our whole 存在 to be shipwrecked in horror and must our 指名する be coupled with this 悲劇 of madness and 血?"

R駭ine thought for a moment and asked:

"What is the other one's 指名する?"

"Hermance."

"Hermance! Still that 初期の...still those eight letters!"

"That was what made me realize everything just now," said M. de Lourtier. "When you compared the different 指名するs, I at once 反映するd that my unhappy wife was called Hermance and that she was mad...and all the proofs leapt to my mind."

"But, though we understand the 選択 of the 犠牲者s, how are we to explain the 殺人s? What are the symptoms of her madness? Does she 苦しむ at all?"

"She does not 苦しむ very much at 現在の. But she has 苦しむd in the past, the most terrible 苦しむing that you can imagine: since the moment when her two children were run over before her 注目する，もくろむs, night and day she had the horrible spectacle of their death before her 注目する，もくろむs, without a moment's interruption, for she never slept for a 選び出す／独身 second. Think of the 拷問 of it! To see her children dying through all the hours of the long day and all the hours of the interminable night!"

"にもかかわらず," R駭ine 反対するd, "it is not to 運動 away that picture that she commits 殺人?"

"Yes, かもしれない," said M. de Lourtier, thoughtfully, "to 運動 it away by sleep."

"I don't understand."

"You don't understand, because we are talking of a madwoman...and because all that happens in that disordered brain is やむを得ず incoherent and 異常な?"

"明白に. But, all the same, is your supposition based on facts that 正当化する it?"

"Yes, on facts which I had, in a way, overlooked but which today assume their true significance. The first of these facts dates a few years 支援する, to a morning when my old nurse for the first time 設立する Hermance 急速な／放蕩な asleep. Now she was 持つ／拘留するing her 手渡すs clutched around a puppy which she had strangled. And the same thing was repeated on three other occasions."

"And she slept?"

"Yes, each time she slept a sleep which lasted for several nights."

"And what 結論 did you draw?"

"I 結論するd that the 緩和 of the 神経s 刺激するd by taking life exhausted her and predisposed her for sleep."

R駭ine shuddered:

"That's it! There's not a 疑問 of it! The taking life, the 成果／努力 of 殺人，大当り makes her sleep. And she began with women what had served her so 井戸／弁護士席 with animals. All her madness has become concentrated on that one point: she kills them to 略奪する them of their sleep! She 手配中の，お尋ね者 sleep; and she steals the sleep of others! That's it, isn't it? For the past two years, she has been sleeping?"

"For the past two years, she has been sleeping," stammered M. de Lourtier.

R駭ine gripped him by the shoulder:

"And it never occurred to you that her madness might go さらに先に, that she would stop at nothing to 勝利，勝つ the blessing of sleep! Let us make haste, monsieur! All this is horrible!"

They were both making for the door, when M. de Lourtier hesitated. The telephone-bell was （犯罪の）一味ing.

"It's from there," he said.

"From there?"

"Yes, my old nurse gives me the news at the same time every day."

He unhooked the receivers and 手渡すd one to R駭ine, who whispered in his ear the questions which he was to put.

"Is that you, F駘icienne? How is she?"

"Not so bad, sir."

"Is she sleeping 井戸／弁護士席?"

"Not very 井戸／弁護士席, lately. Last night, indeed, she never の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs. So she's very 暗い／優うつな just now."

"What is she doing at the moment?"

"She is in her room."

"Go to her, F駘icienne, and don't leave her."

"I can't. She's locked herself in."

"You must, F駘icienne. Break open the door. I'm coming straight on...Hullo! Hullo!...Oh, damnation, they've 削減（する） us off!"

Without a word, the two men left the flat and ran 負かす／撃墜する to the avenue. R駭ine hustled M. de Lourtier into the car:

"What 演説（する）／住所?"

"Ville d'Avray."

"Of course! In the very 中心 of her 操作／手術s...like a spider in the middle of her web! Oh, the shame of it!"

He was profoundly agitated. He saw the whole adventure in its monstrous reality.

"Yes, she kills them to steal their sleep, as she used to kill the animals. It is the same obsession, but 複雑にするd by a whole array of utterly 理解できない practices and superstitions. She evidently fancies that the similarity of the Christian 指名するs to her own is 不可欠の and that she will not sleep unless her 犠牲者 is an Hortense or an Honorine. It's a madwoman's argument; its logic escapes us and we know nothing of its origin; but we can't get away from it. She has to 追跡（する） and has to find. And she finds and carries off her prey beforehand and watches over it for the 任命するd number of days, until the moment when, crazily, through the 穴を開ける which she digs with a hatchet in the middle of the skull, she 吸収するs the sleep which stupefies her and 認めるs her oblivion for a given period. And here again we see absurdity and madness. Why does she 直す／買収する，八百長をする that period at so many days? Why should one 犠牲者 確実にする her a hundred and twenty days of sleep and another a hundred and twenty-five? What insanity! The 計算／見積り is mysterious and of course mad; but the fact remains that, at the end of a hundred or a hundred and twenty-five days, as the 事例／患者 may be, a fresh 犠牲者 is sacrificed; and there have been six already and the seventh is を待つing her turn. Ah, monsieur, what a terrible 責任／義務 for you! Such a monster as that! She should never have been 許すd out of sight!"

M. de Lourtier-Vaneau made no 抗議する. His 空気／公表する of dejection, his pallor, his trembling 手渡すs, all 証明するd his 悔恨 and his despair:

"She deceived me," he murmured. "She was outwardly so 静かな, so docile! And, after all, she's in a lunatic 亡命."

"Then how can she...?"

"The 亡命," explained M. de Lourtier, "is made up of a number of separate buildings scattered over 広範囲にわたる grounds. The sort of cottage in which Hermance lives stands やめる apart. There is first a room 占領するd by F駘icienne, then Hermance's bedroom and two separate rooms, one of which has its windows overlooking the open country. I suppose it is there that she locks up her 犠牲者s."

"But the carriage that 伝えるs the dead 団体／死体s?"

"The stables of the 亡命 are やめる の近くに to the cottage. There's a horse and carriage there for 駅／配置する work. Hermance no 疑問 gets up at night, harnesses the horse and slips the 団体／死体 through the window."

"And the nurse who watches her?"

"F駘icienne is very old and rather deaf."

"But by day she sees her mistress moving to and fro, doing this and that. Must we not 収容する／認める a 確かな complicity?"

"Never! F駘icienne herself has been deceived by Hermance's hypocrisy."

"All the same, it was she who telephoned to Madame de Lourtier first, about that 宣伝..."

"Very 自然に. Hermance, who 会談 now and then, who argues, who buries herself in the newspapers, which she does not understand, as you were 説 just now, but reads through them attentively, must have seen the 宣伝 and, having heard that we were looking for a servant, must have asked F駘icienne to （犯罪の）一味 me up."

"Yes...yes...that is what I felt," said R駭ine, slowly. "She 示すs 負かす／撃墜する her 犠牲者s...With Hortense dead, she would have known, once she had used up her allowance of sleep, where to find an eighth 犠牲者...But how did she entice the unfortunate women? How did she entice Hortense?"

The car was 急ぐing along, but not 急速な／放蕩な enough to please R駭ine, who 率d the chauffeur:

"押し進める her along, Adolphe, can't you?...We're losing time, my man."

Suddenly the 恐れる of arriving too late began to 拷問 him. The logic of the insane is 支配する to sudden changes of mood, to any perilous idea that may enter the mind. The madwoman might easily mistake the date and 急いで the 大災害, like a clock out of order which strikes an hour too soon.

On the other 手渡す, as her sleep was once more 乱すd, might she not be tempted to take 活動／戦闘 without waiting for the 任命するd moment? Was this not the 推論する／理由 why she had locked herself into her room? Heavens, what agonies her 囚人 must be 苦しむing! What shudders of terror at the executioner's least movement!

"Faster, Adolphe, or I'll take the wheel myself! Faster, hang it."

At last they reached Ville d'Avray. There was a 法外な, sloping road on the 権利 and 塀で囲むs interrupted by a long railing.

"運動 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the grounds, Adolphe. We mustn't give 警告 of our presence, must we, M. de Lourtier? Where is the cottage?"

"Just opposite," said M. de Lourtier-Vaneau.

They got out a little さらに先に on. R駭ine began to run along a bank at the 味方する of an ill-kept sunken road. It was almost dark. M. de Lourtier said:

"Here, this building standing a little way 支援する...Look at that window on the ground-床に打ち倒す. It belongs to one of the separate rooms...and that is 明白に how she slips out."

"But the window seems to be 閉めだした."

"Yes; and that is why no one 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd anything. But she must have 設立する some way to get through."

The ground-床に打ち倒す was built over 深い cellars. R駭ine quickly clambered up, finding a foothold on a 事業／計画（する）ing ledge of 石／投石する.

Sure enough, one of the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s was 行方不明の.

He 圧力（をかける）d his 直面する to the 窓ガラス and looked in.

The room was dark inside. にもかかわらず he was able to distinguish at the 支援する a woman seated beside another woman, who was lying on a mattress. The woman seated was 持つ／拘留するing her forehead in her 手渡すs and gazing at the woman who was lying 負かす／撃墜する.

"It's she," whispered M. de Lourtier, who had also climbed the 塀で囲む. "The other one is bound."

R駭ine took from his pocket a glazier's diamond and 削減（する） out one of the panes without making enough noise to 誘発する the madwoman's attention. He next slid his 手渡す to the window-fastening and turned it softly, while with his left 手渡す he levelled a revolver.

"You're not going to 解雇する／砲火／射撃, surely!" M. de Lourtier-Vaneau entreated.

"If I must, I shall."

R駭ine 押し進めるd open the window gently. But there was an 障害 of which he was not aware, a 議長，司会を務める which 倒れるd over and fell.

He leapt into the room and threw away his revolver ーするために 掴む the madwoman. But she did not wait for him. She 急ぐd to the door, opened it and fled, with a hoarse cry.

M. de Lourtier made as though to run after her.

"What's the use?" said R駭ine, ひさまづくing 負かす／撃墜する, "Let's save the 犠牲者 first."

He was 即時に 安心させるd: Hortense was alive.

The first thing that he did was to 削減（する） the cords and 除去する the gag that was stifling her. Attracted by the noise, the old nurse had 急いでd to the room with a lamp, which R駭ine took from her, casting its light on Hortense.

He was astounded: though livid and exhausted, with emaciated features and 注目する，もくろむs 炎ing with fever, Hortense was trying to smile. She whispered:

"I was 推定する／予想するing you...I did not despair for a moment...I was sure of you..."

She fainted.

An hour later, after much useless searching around the cottage, they 設立する the madwoman locked into a large cupboard in the loft. She had hanged herself.

* * *

Hortense 辞退するd to stay another night. Besides, it was better that the cottage should be empty when the old nurse 発表するd the madwoman's 自殺. R駭ine gave F駘icienne minute directions as to what she should do and say; and then, 補助装置d by the chauffeur and M. de Lourtier, carried Hortense to the car and brought her home.

She was soon convalescent. Two days later, R駭ine carefully questioned her and asked her how she had come to know the madwoman.

"It was very simple," she said. "My husband, who is not やめる sane, as I have told you, is 存在 looked after at Ville d'Avray; and I いつかs go to see him, without telling anybody, I 収容する／認める. That was how I （機の）カム to speak to that poor madwoman and how, the other day, she made 調印するs that she 手配中の，お尋ね者 me to visit her. We were alone. I went into the cottage. She threw herself upon me and overpowered me before I had time to cry for help. I thought it was a jest; and so it was, wasn't it: a madwoman's jest? She was やめる gentle with me...All the same, she let me 餓死する. But I was so sure of you!"

"And weren't you 脅すd?"

"Of 餓死するing? No. Besides, she gave me some food, now and then, when the fancy took her...And then I was sure of you!"

"Yes, but there was something else: that other 危険，危なくする..."

"What other 危険，危なくする?" she asked, ingenuously.

R駭ine gave a start. He suddenly understood—it seemed strange at first, though it was やめる natural—that Hortense had not for a moment 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd and did not yet 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う the terrible danger which she had run. Her mind had not connected with her own adventure the 殺人s committed by the lady with the hatchet.

He thought that it would always be time enough to tell her the truth. For that 事柄, a few days later her husband, who had been locked up for years, died in the 亡命 at Ville d'Avray, and Hortense, who had been recommended by her doctor a short period of 残り／休憩（する） and 孤独, went to stay with a relation living 近づく the village of Bassicourt, in the centre of フラン.

7. 足跡s in the Snow

To Prince Serge R駭ine,
Boulevard Haussmann,
Paris

La Ronci鑽e
近づく Bassicourt,
14 November.

My dear friend—

You must be thinking me very ungrateful. I have been here three weeks; and you have had not one letter from me! Not a word of thanks! And yet I ended by realizing from what terrible death you saved me and understanding the secret of that terrible 商売／仕事! But indeed, indeed I couldn't help it! I was in such a 明言する／公表する of prostration after it all! I needed 残り／休憩（する） and 孤独 so 不正に! Was I to stay in Paris? Was I to continue my 探検隊／遠征隊s with you? No, no, no! I had had enough adventures! Other people's are very 利益／興味ing, I 収容する／認める. But when one is one's self the 犠牲者 and barely escapes with one's life?...Oh, my dear friend, how horrible it was! Shall I ever forget it?...

Here, at la Ronci鑽e, I enjoy the greatest peace. My old spinster cousin Ermelin pets and coddles me like an 無効の. I am getting 支援する my colour and am very 井戸／弁護士席, 肉体的に...so much so, in fact, that I no longer ever think of 利益／興味ing myself in other people's 商売／仕事. Never again! For instance (I am only telling you this because you are incorrigible, as inquisitive as any old charwoman, and always ready to busy yourself with things that don't 関心 you), yesterday I was 現在の at a rather curious 会合. Antoinette had taken me to the inn at Bassicourt, where we were having tea in the public room, の中で the 小作農民s (it was market-day), when the arrival of three people, two men and a woman, 原因（となる）d a sudden pause in the conversation.

One of the men was a fat 農業者 in a long blouse, with a jovial, red 直面する, でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd in white whiskers. The other was younger, was dressed in corduroy and had lean, yellow, cross-穀物d features. Each of them carried a gun slung over his shoulder. Between them was a short, slender young woman, in a brown cloak and a fur cap, whose rather thin and 極端に pale 直面する was surprisingly delicate and distinguished-looking.

"'Father, son and daughter-in-法律,' whispered my cousin.

"'What! Can that charming creature be the wife of that clodhopper?'

"'And the daughter-in-法律 of Baron de Gorne.'

"'Is the old fellow over there a baron?'

"'Yes, descended from a very 古代の, noble family which used to own the ch穰eau in the old days. He has always lived like a 小作農民: a 広大な／多数の／重要な hunter, a 広大な／多数の／重要な drinker, a 広大な／多数の／重要な litigant, always at 法律 with somebody, now very nearly 廃虚d. His son Mathias was more ambitious and いっそう少なく 大（公）使館員d to the 国／地域 and 熟考する／考慮するd for the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業. Then he went to America. Next, the 欠如（する） of money brought him 支援する to the village, その結果 he fell in love with a young girl in the nearest town. The poor girl 同意d, no one knows why, to marry him; and for five years past she has been 主要な the life of a hermit, or rather of a 囚人, in a little manor-house の近くに by, the Manoir-au-Puits, the 井戸／弁護士席 Manor.'

"'With the father and the son?' I asked.

"'No, the father lives at the far end of the village, on a lonely farm.'

"'And is Master Mathias jealous?'

"'A perfect tiger!'

"'Without 推論する／理由?'

"'Without 推論する／理由, for Natalie de Gorne is the straightest woman in the world and it is not her fault if a handsome young man has been hanging around the manor-house for the past few months. However, the de Gornes can't get over it.'

"'What, the father neither?'

"'The handsome young man is the last 子孫 of the people who bought the ch穰eau long ago. This explains old de Gorne's 憎悪. J駻?e Vignal—I know him and am very fond of him—is a good-looking fellow and very 井戸／弁護士席 off; and he has sworn to run off with Natalie de Gorne. It's the old man who says so, whenever he has had a 減少（する） too much. There, listen!'

"The old chap was sitting の中で a group of men who were amusing themselves by making him drink and plying him with questions. He was already a little bit 'on' and was 持つ／拘留するing 前へ／外へ with a トン of indignation and a mocking smile which formed the most comic contrast:

"'He's wasting his time, I tell you, the coxcomb! It's no manner of use his poaching 一連の会議、交渉／完成する our way and making sheep's-注目する，もくろむs at the wench...The coverts are watched! If he comes too 近づく, it means a 弾丸, eh, Mathias?'

"He gripped his daughter-in-法律's 手渡す:

"'And then the little wench knows how to defend herself too,' he chuckled. 'Eh, you don't want any admirers, do you Natalie?'

"The young wife blushed, in her 混乱 at 存在 演説（する）／住所d in these 条件, while her husband growled:

"'You'd do better to 持つ／拘留する your tongue, father. There are things one doesn't talk about in public.'

"'Things that 影響する／感情 one's honour are best settled in public,' retorted the old one. 'Where I'm 関心d, the honour of the de Gornes comes before everything; and that 罰金 誘発する, with his Paris 空気／公表するs, shan't...'

"He stopped short. Before him stood a man who had just come in and who seemed to be waiting for him to finish his 宣告，判決. The newcomer was a tall, powerfully-built young fellow, in riding-道具, with a 追跡（する）ing-刈る in his 手渡す. His strong and rather 厳しい 直面する was lighted up by a pair of 罰金 注目する，もくろむs in which shone an ironical smile.

"'J駻?e Vignal,' whispered my cousin.

"The young man seemed not at all embarrassed. On seeing Natalie, he made a low 屈服する; and, when Mathias de Gorne took a step 今後, he 注目する，もくろむd him from 長，率いる to foot, as though to say:

"'井戸／弁護士席, what about it?'

"And his 態度 was so haughty and contemptuous that the de Gornes unslung their guns and took them in both 手渡すs, like sportsmen about to shoot. The son's 表現 was very 猛烈な／残忍な.

"J駻?e was やめる unmoved by the 脅し. After a few seconds, turning to the innkeeper, he 発言／述べるd:

"'Oh, I say! I （機の）カム to see old Vasseur. But his shop is shut. Would you mind giving him the holster of my revolver? It wants a stitch or two.'

"He 手渡すd the holster to the innkeeper and 追加するd, laughing:

"'I'm keeping the revolver, in 事例／患者 I need it. You never can tell!'

"Then, still very calmly, he took a cigarette from a silver 事例／患者, lit it and walked out. We saw him through the window 丸天井ing on his horse and riding off at a slow trot.

"Old de Gorne 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd off a glass of brandy, 断言するing most horribly.

"His son clapped his 手渡す to the old man's mouth and 軍隊d him to sit 負かす／撃墜する. Natalie de Gorne was weeping beside them...

"That's my story, dear friend. As you see, it's not tremendously 利益／興味ing and does not deserve your attention. There's no mystery in it and no part for you to play. Indeed, I 特に 主張する that you should not 捜し出す a pretext for any untimely 干渉，妨害. Of course, I should be glad to see the poor thing 保護するd: she appears to be a perfect 殉教者. But, as I said before, let us leave other people to get out of their own troubles and go no さらに先に with our little 実験s..."

* * *

R駭ine finished reading the letter, read it over again and ended by 説:

"That's it. Everything's 権利 as 権利 can be. She doesn't want to continue our little 実験s, because this would make the seventh and because she's afraid of the eighth, which under the 条件 of our 協定 has a very particular significance. She doesn't want to...and she does want to...without seeming to want to."

He rubbed his 手渡すs. The letter was an invaluable 証言，証人／目撃する to the 影響（力） which he had 徐々に, gently and 根気よく 伸び（る）d over Hortense Daniel. It betrayed a rather コンビナート／複合体 feeling, composed of 賞賛, unbounded 信用／信任, uneasiness at times, 恐れる and almost terror, but also love: he was 納得させるd of that. His companion in adventures which she 株d with a good fellowship that 除外するd any awkwardness between them, she had suddenly taken fright; and a sort of modesty, mingled with a 確かな coquetry; was impelling her to 持つ／拘留する 支援する.

That very evening, Sunday, R駭ine took the train.

And, at break of day, after covering by diligence, on a road white with snow, the five miles between the little town of Pompignat, where he alighted, and the village of Bassicourt, he learnt that his 旅行 might 証明する of some use: three 発射s had been heard during the night in the direction of the Manoir-au-Puits.

"Three 発射s, sergeant. I heard them as plainly as I see you standing before me," said a 小作農民 whom the gendarmes were 尋問 in the parlour of the inn which R駭ine had entered.

"So did I," said the waiter. "Three 発射s. It may have been twelve o'clock at night. The snow, which had been 落ちるing since nine, had stopped...and the 発射s sounded across the fields, one after the other: bang, bang, bang."

Five more 小作農民s gave their 証拠. The sergeant and his men had heard nothing, because the police-駅／配置する 支援するd on the fields. But a farm-labourer and a woman arrived, who said that they were in Mathias de Gorne's service, that they had been away for two days because of the 介入するing Sunday and that they had come straight from the manor-house, where they were unable to 得る admission:

"The gate of the grounds is locked, sergeant," said the man. "It's the first time I've known this to happen. M. Mathias comes out to open it himself, every morning at the 一打／打撃 of six, winter and summer. 井戸／弁護士席, it's past eight now. I called and shouted. Nobody answered. So we （機の）カム on here."

"You might have enquired at old M. de Gorne's," said the sergeant. "He lives on the highroad."

"On my word, so I might! I never thought of that."

"We'd better go there now," the sergeant decided. Two of his men went with him, 同様に as the 小作農民s and a locksmith whose services were called into requisition. R駭ine joined the party.

Soon, at the end of the village, they reached old de Gorne's farmyard, which R駭ine 認めるd by Hortense's description of its position.

The old fellow was harnessing his horse and 罠（にかける）. When they told him what had happened, he burst out laughing:

"Three 発射s? Bang, bang, bang? Why, my dear sergeant, there are only two バーレル／樽s to Mathias' gun!"

"What about the locked gate?"

"It means that the lad's asleep, that's all. Last night, he （機の）カム and 割れ目d a 瓶／封じ込める with me...perhaps two...or even three; and he'll be sleeping it off, I 推定する／予想する...he and Natalie."

He climbed on to the box of his 罠（にかける）—an old cart with a patched 攻撃する—and 割れ目d his whip:

"Goodbye, gentlemen all. Those three 発射s of yours won't stop me from going to market at Pompignat, as I do every Monday. I've a couple of calves under the 攻撃する; and they're just fit for the butcher. Good day to you!"

The others walked on. R駭ine went up to the sergeant and gave him his 指名する:

"I'm a friend of Mlle. Ermelin, of La Ronci鑽e; and, as it's too 早期に to call on her yet, I shall be glad if you'll 許す me to go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する by the manor with you. Mlle. Ermelin knows Madame de Gorne; and it will be a satisfaction to me to relieve her mind, for there's nothing wrong at the manor-house, I hope?"

"If there is," replied the sergeant, "we shall read all about it as plainly as on a 地図／計画する, because of the snow."

He was a likable young man and seemed smart and intelligent. From the very first he had shown 広大な／多数の／重要な acuteness in 観察するing the 跡をつけるs which Mathias had left behind him, the evening before, on returning home, 跡をつけるs which soon became 混乱させるd with the 足跡s made in going and coming by the farm-labourer and the woman. 一方／合間 they （機の）カム to the 塀で囲むs of a 所有物／資産／財産 of which the locksmith readily opened the gate.

From here onward, a 選び出す／独身 追跡する appeared upon the spotless snow, that of Mathias; and it was 平易な to perceive that the son must have 株d 大部分は in the father's libations, as the line of 足跡s 述べるd sudden curves which made it swerve 権利 up to the trees of the avenue.

Two hundred yards さらに先に stood the dilapidated two-storeyed building of the Manoir-au-Puits. The 主要な／長／主犯 door was open.

"Let's go in," said the sergeant.

And, the moment he had crossed the threshold, he muttered:

"Oho! Old de Gorne made a mistake in not coming. They've been fighting in here."

The big room was in disorder. Two 粉々にするd 議長，司会を務めるs, the overturned （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and much broken glass and 磁器 bore 証言，証人／目撃する to the 暴力／激しさ of the struggle. The tall clock, lying on the ground, had stopped at twenty past eleven.

With the farm-girl showing them the way, they ran up to the first 床に打ち倒す. Neither Mathias nor his wife was there. But the door of their bedroom had been broken 負かす／撃墜する with a 大打撃を与える which they discovered under the bed.

R駭ine and the sergeant went downstairs again. The living-room had a passage communicating with the kitchen, which lay at the 支援する of the house and opened on a small yard 盗品故買者d off from the orchard. At the end of this enclosure was a 井戸／弁護士席 近づく which one was bound to pass.

Now, from the door of the kitchen to the 井戸／弁護士席, the snow, which was not very 厚い, had been 圧力（をかける）d 負かす／撃墜する to this 味方する and that, as though a 団体／死体 had been dragged over it. And all around the 井戸／弁護士席 were 絡まるd traces of trampling feet, showing that the struggle must have been 再開するd at this 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. The sergeant again discovered Mathias' 足跡s, together with others which were shapelier and はしけ.

These latter went straight into the orchard, by themselves. And, thirty yards on, 近づく the 足跡s, a revolver was 選ぶd up and 認めるd by one of the 小作農民s as 似ているing that which J駻?e Vignal had produced in the inn two days before.

The sergeant 診察するd the cylinder. Three of the seven 弾丸s had been 解雇する／砲火／射撃d.

And so the 悲劇 was little by little 再建するd in its main 輪郭（を描く）s; and the sergeant, who had ordered everybody to stand aside and not to step on the 場所／位置 of the 足跡s, （機の）カム 支援する to the 井戸／弁護士席, leant over, put a few questions to the farm-girl and, going up to R駭ine, whispered:

"It all seems 公正に／かなり （疑いを）晴らす to me."

R駭ine took his arm:

"Let's speak out plainly, sergeant. I understand the 商売／仕事 pretty 井戸／弁護士席, for, as I told you, I know Mlle. Ermelin, who is a friend of J駻?e Vignal's and also knows Madame de Gorne. Do you suppose...?"

"I don't want to suppose anything. I 簡単に 宣言する that someone （機の）カム there last night..."

"By which way? The only 跡をつけるs of a person coming に向かって the manor are those of M. de Gorne."

"That's because the other person arrived before the 降雪, that is to say, before nine o'clock."

"Then he must have hidden in a corner of the living-room and waited for the return of M. de Gorne, who （機の）カム after the snow?"

"Just so. As soon as Mathias （機の）カム in, the man went for him. There was a fight. Mathias made his escape through the kitchen. The man ran after him to the 井戸／弁護士席 and 解雇する／砲火／射撃d three revolver-発射s."

"And where's the 団体／死体?"

"負かす／撃墜する the 井戸／弁護士席."

R駭ine 抗議するd:

"Oh, I say! Aren't you taking a lot for 認めるd?"

"Why, sir, the snow's there, to tell the story; and the snow plainly says that, after the struggle, after the three 発射s, one man alone walked away and left the farm, one man only, and his 足跡s are not those of Mathias de Gorne. Then where can Mathias de Gorne be?"

"But the 井戸／弁護士席...can be dragged?"

"No. The 井戸／弁護士席 is 事実上 bottomless. It is known all over the 地区 and gives its 指名する to the manor."

"So you really believe...?"

"I repeat what I said. Before the 降雪, a 選び出す／独身 arrival, Mathias, and a 選び出す／独身 出発, the stranger."

"And Madame de Gorne? Was she too killed and thrown 負かす／撃墜する the 井戸／弁護士席 like her husband?"

"No, carried off."

"Carried off?"

"Remember that her bedroom was broken 負かす／撃墜する with a 大打撃を与える."

"Come, come, sergeant! You yourself 宣言する that there was only one 出発, the stranger's."

"Stoop 負かす／撃墜する. Look at the man's 足跡s. See how they 沈む into the snow, until they 現実に touch the ground. Those are the 足跡s of a man, laden with a 激しい 重荷（を負わせる）. The stranger was carrying Madame de Gorne on his shoulder."

"Then there's an 出口 this way?"

"Yes, a little door of which Mathias de Gorne always had the 重要な on him. The man must have taken it from him."

"A way out into the open fields?"

"Yes, a road which joins the departmental 主要道路 three ４半期/4分の1s of a mile from here...And do you know where?"

"Where?"

"At the corner of the ch穰eau."

"J駻?e Vignal's ch穰eau?"

"By Jove, this is beginning to look serious! If the 追跡する leads to the ch穰eau and stops there, we shall know where we stand."

The 追跡する did continue to the ch穰eau, as they were able to perceive after に引き続いて it across the undulating fields, on which the snow lay heaped in places. The approach to the main gates had been swept, but they saw that another 追跡する, formed by the two wheels of a 乗り物, was running in the opposite direction to the village.

The sergeant rang the bell. The porter, who had also been 広範囲にわたる the 運動, （機の）カム to the gates, with a broom in his 手渡す. In answer to a question, the man said that M. Vignal had gone away that morning before anyone else was up and that he himself had harnessed the horse to the 罠（にかける）.

"In that 事例／患者," said R駭ine, when they had moved away, "all we have to do is to follow the 跡をつけるs of the wheels."

"That will be no use," said the sergeant. "They have taken the 鉄道."

"At Pompignat 駅／配置する, where I （機の）カム from? But they would have passed through the village."

"They have gone just the other way, because it leads to the town, where the 表明する trains stop. The procurator-general has an office in the town. I'll telephone; and, as there's no train before eleven o'clock, all that they need do is to keep a watch at the 駅／配置する."

"I think you're doing the 権利 thing, sergeant," said R駭ine, "and I congratulate you on the way in which you have carried out your 調査."

They parted. R駭ine went 支援する to the inn in the village and sent a 公式文書，認める to Hortense Daniel by 手渡す:

My very dear friend,

I seemed to gather from your letter that, touched as always by anything that 関心s the heart, you were anxious to 保護する the love-事件／事情／状勢 of J駻?e and Natalie. Now there is every 推論する／理由 to suppose that these two, without 協議するing their fair protectress, have run away, after throwing Mathias de Gorne 負かす／撃墜する a 井戸／弁護士席.

許す me for not coming to see you. The whole thing is 極端に obscure; and, if I were with you, I should not have the detachment of mind which is needed to think the 事例／患者 over.

It was then half-past ten. R駭ine went for a walk into the country, with his 手渡すs clasped behind his 支援する and without vouchsafing a ちらりと見ること at the exquisite spectacle of the white meadows. He （機の）カム 支援する for lunch, still 吸収するd in his thoughts and indifferent to the talk of the 顧客s of the inn, who on all 味方するs were discussing 最近の events.

He went up to his room and had been asleep some time when he was awakened by a （電話線からの）盗聴 at the door. He got up and opened it:

"Is it you?...Is it you?" he whispered.

Hortense and he stood gazing at each other for some seconds in silence, 持つ／拘留するing each other's 手渡すs, as though nothing, no irrelevant thought and no utterance, must be 許すd to 干渉する with the joy of their 会合. Then he asked:

"Was I 権利 in coming?"

"Yes," she said, gently, "I 推定する／予想するd you."

"Perhaps it would have been better if you had sent for me sooner, instead of waiting...Events did not wait, you see, and I don't やめる know what's to become of J駻?e Vignal and Natalie de Gorne."

"What, 港／避難所't you heard?" she said, quickly. "They've been 逮捕（する）d. They were going to travel by the 表明する."

"逮捕（する）d? No." R駭ine 反対するd. "People are not 逮捕（する）d like that. They have to be questioned first."

"That's what's 存在 done now. The 当局 are making a search."

"Where?"

"At the ch穰eau. And, as they are innocent...For they are innocent, aren't they? You don't 収容する／認める that they are 有罪の, any more than I do?"

He replied:

"I 収容する／認める nothing, I can 収容する／認める nothing, my dear. にもかかわらず, I am bound to say that everything is against them...except one fact, which is that everything is too much against them. It is not normal for so many proofs to be heaped up one on 最高の，を越す of the other and for the man who commits a 殺人 to tell his story so 率直に. Apart from this, there's nothing but mystery and discrepancy."

"井戸／弁護士席?"

"井戸／弁護士席, I am 大いに puzzled."

"But you have a 計画（する）?"

"非，不，無 at all, so far. Ah, if I could see him, J駻?e Vignal, and her, Natalie de Gorne, and hear them and know what they are 説 in their own defence! But you can understand that I shan't be permitted either to ask them any questions or to be 現在の at their examination. Besides, it must be finished by this time."

"It's finished at the ch穰eau," she said, "but it's going to be continued at the manor-house."

"Are they taking them to the manor-house?" he asked 熱望して.

"Yes...at least, 裁判官ing by what was said to the chauffeur of one of the procurator's two cars."

"Oh, in that 事例／患者," exclaimed R駭ine, "the thing's done! The manor-house! Why, we shall be in the 前線 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of the 立ち往生させるs! We shall see and hear everything; and, as a word, a トン of the 発言する／表明する, a quiver of the eyelids will be enough to give me the tiny 手がかり（を与える） I need, we may entertain some hope. Come along."

He took her by the direct 大勝する which he had followed that morning, 主要な to the gate which the locksmith had opened. The gendarmes on 義務 at the manor-house had made a passage through the snow, beside the line of 足跡s and around the house. Chance enabled R駭ine and Hortense to approach unseen and through a 味方する-window to enter a 回廊（地帯） 近づく a 支援する-staircase. A few steps up was a little 議会 which received its only light through a sort of bull's-注目する，もくろむ, from the large room on the ground-床に打ち倒す. R駭ine, during the morning visit, had noticed the bull's-注目する，もくろむ, which was covered on the inside with a piece of cloth. He 除去するd the cloth and 削減（する） out one of the panes.

A few minutes later, a sound of 発言する／表明するs rose from the other 味方する of the house, no 疑問 近づく the 井戸／弁護士席. The sound grew more 際立った. A number of people flocked into the house. Some of them went upstairs to the first 床に打ち倒す, while the sergeant arrived with a young man of whom R駭ine and Hortense were able to distinguish only the tall 人物／姿／数字:

"J駻?e Vignal," said she.

"Yes," said R駭ine. "They are 診察するing Madame de Gorne first, upstairs, in her bedroom."

A ４半期/4分の1 of an hour passed. Then the persons on the first 床に打ち倒す （機の）カム downstairs and went in. They were the procurator's 副, his clerk, a commissary of police and two 探偵，刑事s.

Madame de Gorne was shown in and the 副 asked J駻?e Vignal to step 今後.

J駻?e Vignal's 直面する was certainly that of the strong man whom Hortense had 描写するd in her letter. He 陳列する，発揮するd no uneasiness, but rather 決定／判定勝ち（する） and a resolute will. Natalie, who was short and very slight, with a feverish light in her 注目する，もくろむs, にもかかわらず produced the same impression of 静かな 信用／信任.

The 副, who was 診察するing the disordered furniture and the traces of the struggle, 招待するd her to sit 負かす／撃墜する and said to J駻?e:

"Monsieur, I have not asked you many questions so far. This is a 要約 enquiry which I am 行為／行うing in your presence and which will be continued later by the 診察するing-治安判事; and I wished above all to explain to you the very serious 推論する／理由s for which I asked you to interrupt your 旅行 and to come 支援する here with Madame de Gorne. You are now in a position to 反駁する the truly 苦しめるing 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s that are hanging over you. I therefore ask you to tell me the exact truth."

"Mr. 副," replied J駻?e, "the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s in question trouble me very little. The truth for which you are asking will 敗北・負かす all the lies which chance has 蓄積するd against me. It is this."

He 反映するd for an instant and then, in （疑いを）晴らす, frank トンs, said:

"I love Madame de Gorne. The first time I met her, I conceived the greatest sympathy and 賞賛 for her. But my affection has always been directed by the 単独の thought of her happiness. I love her, but I 尊敬（する）・点 her even more. Madame de Gorne must have told you and I tell you again that she and I 交流d our first few words last night."

He continued, in a lower 発言する／表明する:

"I 尊敬（する）・点 her the more inasmuch as she is exceedingly unhappy. All the world knows that every minute of her life was a 殉教／苦難. Her husband 迫害するd her with ferocious 憎悪 and frantic jealousy. Ask the servants. They will tell you of the long 苦しむing of Natalie de Gorne, of the blows which she received and the 侮辱s which she had to 耐える. I tried to stop this 拷問 by 回復するing to the 権利s of 控訴，上告 which the merest stranger may （人命などを）奪う，主張する when unhappiness and 不正 pass a 確かな 限界. I went three times to old de Gorne and begged him to 干渉する; but I 設立する in him an almost equal 憎悪 に向かって his daughter-in-法律, the 憎悪 which many people feel for anything beautiful and noble. At last I 解決するd on direct 活動／戦闘 and last night I took a step with regard to Mathias de Gorne which was...a little unusual, I 収容する／認める, but which seemed likely to 後継する, considering the man's character. I 断言する, Mr. 副, that I had no other 意向 than to talk to Mathias de Gorne. Knowing 確かな particulars of his life which enabled me to bring 効果的な 圧力 to 耐える upon him, I wished to make use of this advantage ーするために 達成する my 目的. If things turned out 異なって, I am not wholly to 非難する...So I went there a little before nine o'clock. The servants, I knew, were out. He opened the door himself. He was alone."

"Monsieur," said the 副, interrupting him, "you are 説 something—as Madame de Gorne, for that 事柄, did just now—which is manifestly …に反対するd to the truth. Mathias de Gorne did not come home last night until eleven o'clock. We have two 限定された proofs of this: his father's 証拠 and the prints of his feet in the snow, which fell from a ４半期/4分の1 past nine o'clock to eleven."

"Mr. 副," J駻?e Vignal 宣言するd, without 注意するing the bad 影響 which his obstinacy was producing, "I am relating things as they were and not as they may be 解釈する／通訳するd. But to continue. That clock 示すd ten minutes to nine when I entered this room. M. de Gorne, believing that he was about to be attacked, had taken 負かす／撃墜する his gun. I placed my revolver on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, out of reach of my 手渡す, and sat 負かす／撃墜する: 'I want to speak to you, monsieur,' I said. 'Please listen to me.' He did not 動かす and did not utter a 選び出す／独身 syllable. So I spoke. And straightway, crudely, without any previous explanations which might have 軟化するd the bluntness of my 提案, I spoke the few words which I had 用意が出来ている beforehand: 'I have spent some months, monsieur,' I said, 'in making careful enquiries into your 財政上の position. You have mortgaged every foot of your land. You have 調印するd 法案s which will すぐに be 落ちるing 予定 and which it will be 絶対 impossible for you to honour. You have nothing to hope for from your father, whose own 事件／事情／状勢s are in a very bad 条件. So you are 廃虚d. I have come to save you.'...He watched me, still without speaking, and sat 負かす／撃墜する, which I took to mean that my suggestion was not 完全に displeasing. Then I took a sheaf of banknotes from my pocket, placed it before him and continued: 'Here is sixty thousand フランs, monsieur. I will buy the Manoir-au-Puits, its lands and dependencies and take over the mortgages. The sum 指名するd is 正確に／まさに twice what they are 価値（がある）.'...I saw his 注目する，もくろむs glittering. He asked my 条件s. 'Only one,' I said, 'that you go to America.'... Mr. 副, we sat discussing for two hours. It was not that my 申し込む／申し出 roused his indignation—I should not have 危険d it if I had not known with whom I was 取引，協定ing—but he 手配中の，お尋ね者 more and haggled greedily, though he 差し控えるd from について言及するing the 指名する of Madame de Gorne, to whom I myself had not once alluded. We might have been two men engaged in a 論争 and 捜し出すing an 協定 on ありふれた ground, 反して it was the happiness and the whole 運命 of a woman that were at 火刑／賭ける. At last, 疲れた／うんざりした of the discussion, I 受託するd a 妥協 and we （機の）カム to 条件, which I 解決するd to make 限定された then and there. Two letters were 交流d between us: one in which he made the Manoir-au-Puits over to me for the sum which I had paid him; and one, which he pocketed すぐに, by which I was to send him as much more in America on the day on which the 法令 of 離婚 was pronounced...So the 事件／事情／状勢 was settled. I am sure that at that moment he was 受託するing in good 約束. He looked upon me いっそう少なく as an enemy and a 競争相手 than as a man who was doing him a service. He even went so far as to give me the 重要な of the little door which opens on the fields, so that I might go home by the shortcut. Unfortunately, while I was 選ぶing up my cap and greatcoat, I made the mistake of leaving on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する the letter of sale which he had 調印するd. In a moment, Mathias de Gorne had seen the advantage which he could take of my slip: he could keep his 所有物／資産／財産, keep his wife...and keep the money. Quick as 雷, he tucked away the paper, 攻撃する，衝突する me over the 長，率いる with the butt-end of his gun, threw the gun on the 床に打ち倒す and 掴むd me by the throat with both 手渡すs. He had reckoned without his host. I was the stronger of the two; and after a sharp but short struggle, I mastered him and tied him up with a cord which I 設立する lying in a corner... Mr. 副, if my enemy's 解決する was sudden, 地雷 was no いっそう少なく so. Since, when all was said, he had 受託するd the 取引, I would 軍隊 him to keep it, at least in so far as I was 利益／興味d. A very few steps brought me to the first 床に打ち倒す...I had not a 疑問 that Madame de Gorne was there and had heard the sound of our discussion. Switching on the light of my pocket-たいまつ, I looked into three bedrooms. The fourth was locked. I knocked at the door. There was no reply. But this was one of the moments in which a man 許すs no 障害 to stand in his way. I had seen a 大打撃を与える in one of the rooms. I 選ぶd it up and 粉砕するd in the door...Yes, Natalie was lying there, on the 床に打ち倒す, in a dead faint. I took her in my 武器, carried her downstairs and went through the kitchen. On seeing the snow outside, I at once realized that my 足跡s would be easily traced. But what did it 事柄? Was there any 推論する／理由 why I should put Mathias de Gorne off the scent? Not at all. With the sixty thousand フランs in his 所有／入手, 同様に as the paper in which I undertook to 支払う／賃金 him a like sum on the day of his 離婚, to say nothing of his house and land, he would go away, leaving Natalie de Gorne to me. Nothing was changed between us, except one thing: instead of を待つing his good 楽しみ, I had at once 掴むd the precious 誓約（する） which I coveted. What I 恐れるd, therefore, was not so much any その後の attack on the part of Mathias de Gorne, but rather the indignant reproaches of his wife. What would she say when she realized that she was a 囚人 in my 手渡すs?...The 推論する／理由s why I escaped reproach Madame de Gorne has, I believe, had the frankness to tell you. Love calls 前へ／外へ love. That night, in my house, broken by emotion, she 自白するd her feeling for me. She loved me as I loved her. Our 運命s were henceforth mingled. She and I 始める，決める out at five o'clock this morning...not 予知するing for an instant that we were amenable to the 法律."

J駻?e Vignal's story was finished. He had told it straight off the reel, like a story learnt by heart and incapable of 改正 in any 詳細（に述べる）.

There was a 簡潔な／要約する pause, during which Hortense whispered:

"It all sounds やめる possible and, in any 事例／患者, very 論理（学）の."

"There are the 反対s to come," said R駭ine. "Wait till you hear them. They are very serious. There's one in particular..."

The 副-procurator 明言する／公表するd it at once:

"And what became of M. de Gorne in all this?"

"Mathias de Gorne?" asked J駻?e.

"Yes. You have 関係のある, with an accent of 広大な／多数の／重要な 誠実, a 一連の facts which I am やめる willing to 収容する／認める. Unfortunately, you have forgotten a point of the first importance: what became of Mathias de Gorne? You tied him up here, in this room. 井戸／弁護士席, this morning he was gone."

"Of course, Mr. 副, Mathias de Gorne 受託するd the 取引 in the end and went away."

"By what road?"

"No 疑問 by the road that leads to his father's house."

"Where are his 足跡s? The expanse of snow is an impartial 証言，証人／目撃する. After your fight with him, we see you, on the snow, moving away. Why don't we see him? He （機の）カム and did not go away again. Where is he? There is not a trace of him...or rather..."

The 副 lowered his 発言する／表明する:

"Or rather, yes, there are some traces on the way to the 井戸／弁護士席 and around the 井戸／弁護士席...traces which 証明する that the last struggle of all took place there...And after that there is nothing...not a thing..."

J駻?e shrugged his shoulders:

"You have already について言及するd this, Mr. 副, and it 暗示するs a 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of 殺人 against me. I have nothing to say to it."

"Have you anything to say to the fact that your revolver was 選ぶd up within fifteen yards of the 井戸／弁護士席?"

"No."

"Or to the strange coincidence between the three 発射s heard in the night and the three cartridges 行方不明の from your revolver?"

"No, Mr. 副, there was not, as you believe, a last struggle by the 井戸／弁護士席, because I left M. de Gorne tied up, in this room, and because I also left my revolver here. On the other 手渡す, if 発射s were heard, they were not 解雇する／砲火／射撃d by me."

"A casual coincidence, therefore?"

"That's a 事柄 for the police to explain. My only 義務 is to tell the truth and you are not する権利を与えるd to ask more of me."

"And if that truth 衝突s with the facts 観察するd?"

"It means that the facts are wrong, Mr. 副."

"As you please. But, until the day when the police are able to make them agree with your 声明s, you will understand that I am 強いるd to keep you under 逮捕（する）."

"And Madame de Gorne?" asked J駻?e, 大いに 苦しめるd.

The 副 did not reply. He 交流d a few words with the commissary of police and then, beckoning to a 探偵，刑事, ordered him to bring up one of the two 自動車s. Then he turned to Natalie:

"Madame, you have heard M. Vignal's 証拠. It agrees word for word with your own. M. Vignal 宣言するs in particular that you had fainted when he carried you away. But did you remain unconscious all the way?"

It seemed as though J駻?e's composure had 増加するd Madame de Gorne's 保証／確信. She replied:

"I did not come to, monsieur, until I was at the ch穰eau."

"It's most 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の. Didn't you hear the three 発射s which were heard by almost everyone in the village?"

"I did not."

"And did you see nothing of what happened beside the 井戸／弁護士席?"

"Nothing did happen. M. Vignal has told you so."

"Then what has become of your husband?"

"I don't know."

"Come, madame, you really must 補助装置 the officers of the 法律 and at least tell us what you think. Do you believe that there may have been an 事故 and that かもしれない M. de Gorne, who had been to see his father and had more to drink than usual, lost his balance and fell into the 井戸／弁護士席?"

"When my husband （機の）カム 支援する from seeing his father, he was not in the least intoxicated."

"His father, however, has 明言する／公表するd that he was. His father and he had drunk two or three 瓶／封じ込めるs of ワイン."

"His father is not telling the truth."

"But the snow tells the truth, madame," said the 副, irritably. "And the line of his 足跡s wavers from 味方する to 味方する."

"My husband （機の）カム in at half-past-eight, monsieur, before the snow had begun to 落ちる."

The 副 struck the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with his 握りこぶし:

"But, really, madame, you're going 権利 against the 証拠!...That sheet of snow cannot speak 誤った!...I may 受託する your 否定 of 事柄s that cannot be 立証するd. But these 足跡s in the snow...in the snow..."

He controlled himself.

The 自動車 drew up outside the windows. Forming a sudden 解決する, he said to Natalie:

"You will be good enough to 持つ／拘留する yourself at the 処分 of the 当局, madame, and to remain here, in the manor-house..."

And he made a 調印する to the sergeant to 除去する J駻?e Vignal in the car.

The game was lost for the two lovers. Barely 部隊d, they had to separate and to fight, far away from each other, against the most grievous 告訴，告発s.

J駻?e took a step に向かって Natalie. They 交流d a long, sorrowful look. Then he 屈服するd to her and walked to the door, in the wake of the sergeant of gendarmes.

"停止（させる）!" cried a 発言する／表明する. "Sergeant, 権利 about...turn!...J駻?e Vignal, stay where you are!"

The ruffled 副 raised his 長，率いる, as did the other people 現在の. The 発言する／表明する （機の）カム from the 天井. The bulls-注目する，もくろむ window had opened and R駭ine, leaning through it, was waving his 武器:

"I wish to be heard!...I have several 発言／述べるs to make...特に in 尊敬（する）・点 of the ジグザグの 足跡s!...It all lies in that!...Mathias had not been drinking!..."

He had turned 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and put his two 脚s through the 開始, 説 to Hortense, who tried to 妨げる him:

"Don't move...No one will 乱す you."

And, 解放（する）ing his 持つ／拘留する, he dropped into the room.

The 副 appeared dumbfounded:

"But, really, monsieur, who are you? Where do you come from?"

R駭ine 小衝突d the dust from his 着せる／賦与するs and replied:

"Excuse me, Mr. 副. I せねばならない have come the same way as everybody else. But I was in a hurry. Besides, if I had come in by the door instead of 落ちるing from the 天井, my words would not have made the same impression."

The infuriated 副 前進するd to 会合，会う him:

"Who are you?"

"Prince R駭ine. I was with the sergeant this morning when he was 追求するing his 調査s, wasn't I, sergeant? Since then I have been 追跡（する）ing about for （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）. That's why, wishing to be 現在の at the 審理，公聴会, I 設立する a corner in a little 私的な room..."

"You were there? You had the audacity?..."

"One must needs be audacious, when the truth's at 火刑／賭ける. If I had not been there, I should not have discovered just the one little 手がかり（を与える） which I 行方不明になるd. I should not have known that Mathias de Gorne was not the least bit drunk. Now that's the 重要な to the riddle. When we know that, we know the 解答."

The 副 設立する himself in a rather ridiculous position. Since he had failed to take the necessary 警戒s to 確実にする the secrecy of his enquiry, it was difficult for him to take any steps against this interloper. He growled:

"Let's have done with this. What are you asking?"

"A few minutes of your 肉親，親類d attention."

"And with what 反対する?"

"To 設立する the innocence of M. Vignal and Madame de Gorne."

He was wearing that 静める 空気／公表する, that sort of indifferent look which was peculiar to him in moments of 活動／戦闘s when the 危機 of the 演劇 depended 単独で upon himself. Hortense felt a thrill pass through her and at once became 十分な of 信用／信任:

"They're saved," she thought, with sudden emotion. "I asked him to 保護する that young creature; and he is saving her from 刑務所，拘置所 and despair."

J駻?e and Natalie must have experienced the same impression of sudden hope, for they had drawn nearer to each other, as though this stranger, descended from the clouds, had already given them the 権利 to clasp 手渡すs.

The 副 shrugged his shoulders:

"The 起訴 will have every means, when the time comes, of 設立するing their innocence for itself. You will be called."

"It would be better to 設立する it here and now. Any 延期する might lead to grievous consequences."

"I happen to be in a hurry."

"Two or three minutes will do."

"Two or three minutes to explain a 事例／患者 like this!"

"No longer, I 保証する you."

"Are you as 確かな of it as all that?"

"I am now. I have been thinking hard since this morning."

The 副 realized that this was one of those gentry who stick to you like a leech and that there was nothing for it but to 服従させる／提出する. In a rather bantering トン, he asked:

"Does your thinking enable you to tell us the exact 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where M. Mathias de Gorne is at this moment?"

R駭ine took out his watch and answered:

"In Paris, Mr. 副."

"In Paris? Alive then?"

"Alive and, what is more, in the pink of health."

"I am delighted to hear it. But then what's the meaning of the 足跡s around the 井戸／弁護士席 and the presence of that revolver and those three 発射s?"

"簡単に 偽装する."

"Oh, really? 偽装する contrived by whom?"

"By Mathias de Gorne himself."

"That's curious! And with what 反対する?"

"With the 反対する of passing himself off for dead and of arranging その後の 事柄s in such a way that M. Vignal was bound to be （刑事）被告 of the death, the 殺人."

"An ingenious theory," the 副 agreed, still in a satirical トン. "What do you think of it, M. Vignal?"

"It is a theory which flashed through my own mind. Mr. 副," replied J駻?e. "It is やめる likely that, after our struggle and after I had gone, Mathias de Gorne conceived a new 計画（する） by which, this time, his 憎悪 would be fully gratified. He both loved and detested his wife. He held me in the greatest loathing. This must be his 復讐."

"His 復讐 would cost him dear, considering that, によれば your 声明, Mathias de Gorne was to receive a second sum of sixty thousand フランs from you."

"He would receive that sum in another ４半期/4分の1, Mr. 副. My examination of the 財政上の position of the de Gorne family 明らかにする／漏らすd to me the fact that the father and son had taken out a life-保険 政策 in each other's favour. With the son dead, or passing for dead, the father would receive the 保険-money and indemnify his son."

"You mean to say," asked the 副, with a smile, "that in all this 偽装する, as you call it, M. de Gorne the 年上の would 行為／法令／行動する as his son's 共犯者?"

R駭ine took up the challenge:

"Just so, Mr. 副. The father and son are 共犯者s."

"Then we shall find the son at the father's?"

"You would have 設立する him there last night."

"What became of him?"

"He took the train at Pompignat."

"That's a mere supposition."

"No, a certainty."

"A moral certainty, perhaps, but you'll 収容する／認める there's not the slightest proof."

The 副 did not wait for a reply. He considered that he had 陳列する，発揮するd an 過度の 好意／親善 and that patience has its 限界s and he put an end to the interview:

"Not the slightest proof," he repeated, taking up his hat. "And, above all,...above all, there's nothing in what you've said that can 否定する in the very least the 証拠 of that relentless 証言，証人／目撃する, the snow. To go to his father, Mathias de Gorne must have left this house. Which way did he go?"

"Hang it all, M. Vignal told you: by the road which leads from here to his father's!"

"There are no 跡をつけるs in the snow."

"Yes, there are."

"But they show him coming here and not going away from here."

"It's the same thing."

"What?"

"Of course it is. There's more than one way of walking. One doesn't always go ahead by に引き続いて one's nose."

"In what other way can one go ahead?"

"By walking backwards, Mr. 副."

These few words, spoken very 簡単に, but in a （疑いを）晴らす トン which gave 十分な value to every syllable, produced a 深遠な silence. Those 現在の at once しっかり掴むd their extreme significance and, by adapting it to the actual happenings, perceived in a flash the impenetrable truth, which suddenly appeared to be the most natural thing in the world.

R駭ine continued his argument. Stepping backwards in the direction of the window, he said:

"If I want to get to that window, I can of course walk straight up to it; but I can just as easily turn my 支援する to it and walk that way. In either 事例／患者 I reach my goal."

And he at once proceeded in a vigorous トン:

"Here's the gist of it all. At half-past eight, before the snow fell, M. de Gorne comes home from his father's house. M. Vignal arrives twenty minutes later. There is a long discussion and a struggle, taking up three hours in all. It is then, after M. Vignal has carried off Madame de Gorne and made his escape, that Mathias de Gorne, 泡，激怒することing at the mouth, wild with 激怒（する）, but suddenly seeing his chance of taking the most terrible 復讐, 攻撃する，衝突するs upon the ingenious idea of using against his enemy the very 降雪 upon whose 証拠 you are now relying. He therefore 計画（する）s his own 殺人, or rather the 外見 of his 殺人 and of his 落ちる to the 底（に届く） of the 井戸／弁護士席 and makes off backwards, step by step, thus 記録，記録的な／記録するing his arrival instead of his 出発 on the white page."

The 副 sneered no longer. This eccentric 侵入者 suddenly appeared to him in the light of a person worthy of attention, whom it would not do to make fun of. He asked:

"And how could he have left his father's house?"

"In a 罠（にかける）, やめる 簡単に."

"Who drove it?"

"The father. This morning the sergeant and I saw the 罠（にかける） and spoke to the father, who was going to market as usual. The son was hidden under the 攻撃する. He took the train at Pompignat and is in Paris by now."

R駭ine's explanation, as 約束d, had taken hardly five minutes. He had based it 単独で on logic and the probabilities of the 事例／患者. And yet not a 手早く書き留める was left of the 苦しめるing mystery in which they were floundering. The 不明瞭 was dispelled. The whole truth appeared.

Madame de Gorne wept for joy and J駻?e Vignal thanked the good genius who was changing the course of events with a 一打／打撃 of his 魔法 病弱なd.

"Shall we 診察する those 足跡s together, Mr. 副?" asked R駭ine. "Do you mind? The mistake which the sergeant and I made this morning was to 調査／捜査する only the 足跡s left by the 申し立てられた／疑わしい 殺害者 and to neglect Mathias de Gorne's. Why indeed should they have attracted our attention? Yet it was 正確に there that the crux of the whole 事件／事情／状勢 was to be 設立する."

They stepped into the orchard and went to the 井戸／弁護士席. It did not need a long examination to 観察する that many of the 足跡s were ぎこちない, hesitating, too 深く，強烈に sunk at the heel and toe and 異なるing from one another in the angle at which the feet were turned.

"This clumsiness was 避けられない," said R駭ine. "Mathias de Gorne would have needed a 正規の／正選手 見習いの身分制度 before his backward 進歩 could have equalled his ordinary gait; and both his father and he must have been aware of this, at least as regards the ジグザグのs which you see here since old de Gorne went out of his way to tell the sergeant that his son had had too much drink." And he 追加するd "Indeed it was the （犯罪，病気などの）発見 of this falsehood that suddenly enlightened me. When Madame de Gorne 明言する／公表するd that her husband was not drunk, I thought of the 足跡s and guessed the truth."

The 副 率直に 受託するd his part in the 事柄 and began to laugh:

"There's nothing left for it but to send 探偵，刑事s after the 偽の 死体."

"On what grounds, Mr. 副?" asked R駭ine. "Mathias de Gorne has committed no offence against the 法律. There's nothing 犯罪の in trampling the 国／地域 around a 井戸／弁護士席, in 転換ing the position of a revolver that doesn't belong to you, in 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing three 発射s or in walking backwards to one's father's house. What can we ask of him? The sixty thousand フランs? I 推定する that this is not M. Vignal's 意向 and that he does not mean to bring a 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 against him?"

"Certainly not," said J駻?e.

"井戸／弁護士席, what then? The 保険-政策 in favour of the 生存者? But there would be no misdemeanour unless the father （人命などを）奪う，主張するd 支払い（額）. And I should be 大いに surprised if he did...Hullo, here the old chap is! You'll soon know all about it."

Old de Gorne was coming along, gesticulating as he walked. His easygoing features were screwed up to 表明する 悲しみ and 怒り／怒る.

"Where's my son?" he cried. "It seems the brute's killed him!...My poor Mathias dead! Oh, that scoundrel of a Vignal!"

And he shook his 握りこぶし at J駻?e.

The 副 said, bluntly:

"A word with you, M. de Gorne. Do you ーするつもりである to （人命などを）奪う，主張する your 権利s under a 確かな 保険-政策?"

"井戸／弁護士席, what do you think?" said the old man, off his guard.

"The fact is...your son's not dead. People are even 説 that you were a partner in his little 計画／陰謀s and that you stuffed him under the 攻撃する of your 罠（にかける） and drove him to the 駅／配置する."

The old fellow spat on the ground, stretched out his 手渡す as though he were going to take a solemn 誓い, stood for an instant without moving and then, suddenly, changing his mind and his 策略 with ingenuous cynicism, he relaxed his features, assumed a 懐柔的な 態度 and burst out laughing:

"That blackguard Mathias! So he tried to pass himself off as dead? What a rascal! And he reckoned on me to collect the 保険-money and send it to him? As if I should be 有能な of such a low, dirty trick!...You don't know me, my boy!"

And, without waiting for more, shaking with merriment like a jolly old fellow amused by a funny story, he took his 出発, not forgetting, however, to 始める，決める his 広大な／多数の／重要な hobnail boots on each of the 妥協ing 足跡s which his son had left behind him.

* * *

Later, when R駭ine went 支援する to the manor to let Hortense out, he 設立する that she had disappeared.

He called and asked for her at her cousin Ermelin's. Hortense sent 負かす／撃墜する word asking him to excuse her: she was feeling a little tired and was lying 負かす／撃墜する.

"資本／首都!" thought R駭ine. "資本／首都! She 避けるs me, therefore she loves me. The end is not far off."

8. At the 調印する of 水銀柱，温度計

To Madame Daniel,
La Ronci鑽e,
近づく Bassicourt.

Paris 30 November

My Dearest Friend—

There has been no letter from you for a fortnight; so I don't 推定する／予想する now to receive one for that troublesome date of the 5th of December, which we 直す／買収する，八百長をするd as the last day of our 共同. I rather wish it would come, because you will then be 解放（する）d from a 契約 which no longer seems to give you 楽しみ. To me the seven 戦う／戦いs which we fought and won together were a time of endless delight and enthusiasm. I was living beside you. I was conscious of all the good which that more active and stirring 存在 was doing you. My happiness was so 広大な／多数の／重要な that I dared not speak of it to you or let you see anything of my secret feelings except my 願望（する） to please you and my 熱烈な devotion. Today you have had enough of your brother in 武器. Your will shall be 法律.

But, though I 屈服する to your 法令, may I remind you what it was that I always believed our final adventure would be? May I repeat your words, not one of which I have forgotten?

'I 需要・要求する,' you said, 'that you shall 回復する to me a small, antique clasp, made of a cornelian 始める，決める in a filigree 開始する. It （機の）カム to me from my mother; and everyone knew that it used to bring her happiness and me too. Since the day when it 消えるd from my jewel-事例／患者, I have had nothing but unhappiness. 回復する it to me, my good genius.'

And, when I asked you when the clasp had disappeared, you answered, with a laugh:

'Seven years ago...or eight...or nine: I don't know 正確に／まさに...I don't know when...I don't know how...I know nothing about it...'

You were challenging me, were you not, and you 始める，決める me that 条件 because it was one which I could not fulfil? にもかかわらず, I 約束d and I should like to keep my 約束. What I have tried to do, ーするために place life before you in a more favourable light, would seem purposeless, if your 信用／信任 feels the 欠如（する） of this talisman to which you attach so 広大な／多数の／重要な a value. We must not laugh at these little superstitions. They are often the mainspring of our best 活動／戦闘s.

Dear friend, if you had helped me, I should have 達成するd yet one more victory. Alone and hard 押し進めるd by the proximity of the date, I have failed, not however without placing things on such a 地盤 that the 請け負うing if you care to follow it up, has the greatest chance of success.

And you will follow it up, won't you? We have entered into a 相互の 協定 which we are bound to honour. It behooves us, within a 直す／買収する，八百長をするd time, to inscribe in the 調書をとる／予約する of our ありふれた life eight good stories, to which we shall have brought energy, logic, perseverance, some subtlety and occasionally a little heroism. This is the eighth of them. It is for you to 行為／法令／行動する so that it may be written in its proper place on the 5th of December, before the clock strikes eight in the evening.

And, on that day, you will 行為／法令／行動する as I shall now tell you.

First of all—and above all, my dear, do not complain that my 指示／教授／教育s are fanciful: each of them is an 不可欠の 条件 of success—first of all, 削減（する） in your cousin's garden three slender lengths of 急ぐ. Plait them together and 貯蔵所d up the two ends so as to make a rude switch, like a child's whiplash.

When you get to Paris, buy a long necklace of jet beads, 削減（する） into facets, and 縮める it so that it consists of seventy-five beads, of almost equal size.

Under your winter cloak, wear a blue woollen gown. On your 長，率いる, a toque with red leaves on it. 一連の会議、交渉／完成する your neck, a feather boa. No gloves. No （犯罪の）一味s.

In the afternoon, take a cab along the left bank of the river to the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont. At four o'clock 正確に／まさに, there will be, 近づく the 宗教上の-water 水盤／入り江, just inside the church, an old woman dressed in 黒人／ボイコット, 説 her 祈りs on a silver rosary. She will 申し込む／申し出 you 宗教上の water. Give her your necklace. She will count the beads and 手渡す it 支援する to you. After this, you will walk behind her, you will cross an arm of the Seine and she will lead you, 負かす／撃墜する a lonely street in the Ile Saint-Louis, to a house which you will enter by yourself.

On the ground-床に打ち倒す of this house, you will find a youngish man with a very pasty complexion. Take off your cloak and then say to him:

'I have come to fetch my clasp.'

Do not be astonished by his agitation or 狼狽. Keep 静める in his presence. If he questions you, if he wants to know your 推論する／理由 for 適用するing to him or what impels you to make that request, give him no explanation. Your replies must be 限定するd to these 簡潔な／要約する 決まり文句／製法s:

'I have come to fetch what belongs to me. I don't know you, I don't know your 指名する; but I am 強いるd to come to you like this. I must have my clasp returned to me. I must.'

I honestly believe that, if you have the firmness not to swerve from that 態度, whatever farce the man may play, you will be 完全に successful. But the contest must be a short one and the 問題／発行する will depend 単独で on your 信用／信任 in yourself and your certainty of success. It will be a sort of match in which you must 敗北・負かす your 対抗者 in the first 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. If you remain impassive, you will 勝利，勝つ. If you show hesitation or uneasiness, you can do nothing against him. He will escape you and 回復する the upper 手渡す after a first moment of 苦しめる; and the game will be lost in a few minutes. There is no 中途の house between victory or...敗北・負かす.

In the latter event, you would be 強いるd—I beg you to 容赦 me for 説 so—again to 受託する my 共同. I 申し込む／申し出 it you in 前進する, my dear, and without any 条件s, while 明言する／公表するing やめる plainly that all that I have been able to do for you and all that I may yet do gives me no other 権利 than that of thanking you and 充てるing myself more than ever to the woman who 代表するs my joy, my whole life.

* * *

Hortense, after reading the letter, 倍のd it up and put it away at the 支援する of a drawer, 説, in a resolute 発言する／表明する:

"I shan't go."

To begin with, although she had 以前は 大（公）使館員d some slight importance to this trinket, which she had regarded as a mascot, she felt very little 利益／興味 in it now that the period of her 裁判，公判s was 明らかに at an end. She could not forget that 人物／姿／数字 eight, which was the serial number of the next adventure. To 開始する，打ち上げる herself upon it meant taking up the interrupted chain, going 支援する to R駭ine and giving him a 誓約（する） which, with his 力／強力にするs of suggestion, he would know how to turn to account.

Two days before the 5th of December, she was still in the same でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる of mind. So she was on the morning of the 4th; but suddenly, without even having to 競う against 予選 subterfuges, she ran out into the garden, 削減（する） three lengths of 急ぐ, plaited them as she used to do in her childhood and at twelve o'clock had herself driven to the 駅／配置する. She was uplifted by an eager curiosity. She was unable to resist all the amusing and novel sensations which the adventure, 提案するd by R駭ine, 約束d her. It was really too tempting. The jet necklace, the toque with the autumn leaves, the old woman with the silver rosary: how could she resist their mysterious 控訴，上告 and how could she 辞退する this 適切な時期 of showing R駭ine what she was 有能な of doing?

"And then, after all," she said to herself, laughing, "he's 召喚するing me to Paris. Now eight o'clock is dangerous to me at a 位置／汚点／見つけ出す three hundred miles from Paris, in that old 砂漠d Ch穰eau de Halingre, but nowhere else. The only clock that can strike the 脅すing hour is 負かす／撃墜する there, under lock and 重要な, a 囚人!"

She reached Paris that evening. On the morning of the 5th she went out and bought a jet necklace, which she 減ずるd to seventy-five beads, put on a blue gown and a toque with red leaves and, at four o'clock 正確に, entered the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont.

Her heart was throbbing violently. This time she was alone; and how acutely she now felt the strength of that support which, from unreflecting 恐れる rather than any reasonable 動機, she had thrust aside! She looked around her, almost hoping to see him. But there was no one there...no one except an old lady in 黒人／ボイコット, standing beside the 宗教上の water 水盤／入り江.

Hortense went up to her. The old lady, who held a silver rosary in her 手渡すs, 申し込む／申し出d her 宗教上の water and then began to count the beads of the necklace which Hortense gave her.

She whispered:

"Seventy-five. That's 権利. Come."

Without another word, she toddled along under the light of the street-lamps, crossed the Pont des Tournelles to the Ile Saint-Louis and went 負かす／撃墜する an empty street 主要な to a 十字路／岐路, where she stopped in 前線 of an old house with wrought-アイロンをかける balconies:

"Go in," she said.

And the old lady went away.

* * *

Hortense now saw a 繁栄する-looking shop which 占領するd almost the whole of the ground-床に打ち倒す and whose windows, 炎ing with electric light, 陳列する，発揮するd a 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd array of old furniture and antiquities. She stood there for a few seconds, gazing at it absently. A signboard bore the words "The 水銀柱，温度計," together with the 指名する of the owner of the shop, "Pancaldi." Higher up, on a 事業／計画（する）ing cornice which ran on a level with the first 床に打ち倒す, a small niche 避難所d a terra-cotta 水銀柱，温度計 均衡を保った on one foot, with wings to his sandals and the caduceus in his 手渡す, who, as Hortense 公式文書，認めるd, was leaning a little too far 今後 in the ardour of his flight and ought 論理（学）上 to have lost his balance and taken a header into the street.

"Now!" she said, under her breath.

She turned the 扱う of the door and walked in.

にもかかわらず the （犯罪の）一味ing of the bells actuated by the 開始 door, no one （機の）カム to 会合，会う her. The shop seemed to be empty. However, at the extreme end there was a room at the 支援する of the shop and after that another, both crammed with furniture and knickknacks, many of which looked very 価値のある. Hortense followed a 狭くする gangway which 新たな展開d and turned between two 塀で囲むs built up of cupboards, 閣僚s and console-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, went up two steps and 設立する herself in the last room of all.

A man was sitting at a 令状ing-desk and looking through some account-調書をとる／予約するs. Without turning his 長，率いる, he said:

"I am at your service, madam...Please look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する you..."

This room 含む／封じ込めるd nothing but articles of a special character which gave it the 外見 of some alchemist's 研究室／実験室 in the middle ages: stuffed フクロウs, 骸骨／概要s, skulls, 巡査 alembics, astrolabes and all around, hanging on the 塀で囲むs, amulets of every description, おもに 手渡すs of ivory or 珊瑚 with two fingers pointing to 区 off ill-luck.

"Are you wanting anything in particular, madam?" asked M. Pancaldi, の近くにing his desk and rising from his 議長，司会を務める.

"It's the man," thought Hortense.

He had in fact an uncommonly pasty complexion. A little forked 耐えるd, flecked with grey, lengthened his 直面する, which was surmounted by a bald, pallid forehead, beneath which gleamed a pair of small, 目だつ, restless, shifty 注目する，もくろむs.

Hortense, who had not 除去するd her 隠す or cloak, replied:

"I want a clasp."

"They're in this showcase," he said, 主要な the way to the connecting room.

Hortense ちらりと見ることd over the glass 事例／患者 and said:

"No, no,...I don't see what I'm looking for. I don't want just any clasp, but a clasp which I lost out of a jewel-事例／患者 some years ago and which I have to look for here."

She was astounded to see the commotion 陳列する，発揮するd on his features. His 注目する，もくろむs became haggard.

"Here?...I don't think you are in the least likely...What sort of clasp is it?..."

"A cornelian, 機動力のある in gold filigree...of the 1830 period."

"I don't understand," he stammered. "Why do you come to me?"

She now 除去するd her 隠す and laid aside her cloak.

He stepped 支援する, as though terrified by the sight of her, and whispered:

"The blue gown!...The toque!...And—can I believe my 注目する，もくろむs—the jet necklace!..."

It was perhaps the whiplash formed of three 急ぐs that excited him most violently. He pointed his finger at it, began to stagger where he stood and ended by （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing the 空気／公表する with his 武器, like a 溺死するing man, and fainting away in a 議長，司会を務める.

Hortense did not move.

"Whatever farce he may play," R駭ine had written, "have the courage to remain impassive."

Perhaps he was not playing a farce. にもかかわらず she 軍隊d herself to be 静める and indifferent.

This lasted for a minute or two, after which M. Pancaldi 回復するd from his swoon, wiped away the perspiration streaming 負かす／撃墜する his forehead and, 努力する／競うing to 支配（する）／統制する himself, 再開するd, in a trembling 発言する／表明する:

"Why do you 適用する to me?"

"Because the clasp is in your 所有／入手."

"Who told you that?" he said, without 否定するing the 告訴，告発. "How do you know?"

"I know because it is so. Nobody has told me anything. I （機の）カム here 肯定的な that I should find my clasp and with the immovable 決意 to take it away with me."

"But do you know me? Do you know my 指名する?"

"I don't know you. I did not know your 指名する before I read it over your shop. To me you are 簡単に the man who is going to give me 支援する what belongs to me."

He was 大いに agitated. He kept on walking to and fro in a small empty space surrounded by a circle of piled-up furniture, at which he 攻撃する，衝突する out idiotically, at the 危険 of bringing it 負かす／撃墜する.

Hortense felt that she had the whip 手渡す of him; and, 利益（をあげる）ing by his 混乱, she said, suddenly, in a 命令（する）ing and 脅すing トン:

"Where is the thing? You must give it 支援する to me. I 主張する upon it."

Pancaldi gave way to a moment of despair. He 倍のd his 手渡すs and mumbled a few words of entreaty. Then, 敗北・負かすd and suddenly 辞職するd, he said, more distinctly:

"You 主張する?..."

"I do. You must give it to me."

"Yes, yes, I must...I agree."

"Speak!" she ordered, more 厳しく still.

"Speak, no, but 令状: I will 令状 my secret...And that will be the end of me."

He turned to his desk and feverishly wrote a few lines on a sheet of paper, which he put into an envelope and 調印（する）d it:

"See," he said, "here's my secret...It was my whole life..."

And, so 説, he suddenly 圧力（をかける）d against his 寺 a revolver which he had produced from under a pile of papers and 解雇する／砲火／射撃d.

With a quick movement, Hortense struck up his arm. The 弾丸 struck the mirror of a cheval-glass. But Pancaldi 崩壊（する）d and began to groan, as though he were 負傷させるd.

Hortense made a 広大な／多数の／重要な 成果／努力 not to lose her composure:

"R駭ine 警告するd me," she 反映するd. "The man's a play-actor. He has kept the envelope. He has kept his revolver, I won't be taken in by him."

にもかかわらず, she realized that, にもかかわらず his 明らかな calmness, the 試みる／企てる at 自殺 and the revolver-発射 had 完全に unnerved her. All her energies were 分散させるd, like the sticks of a bundle whose string has been 削減（する）; and she had a painful impression that the man, who was grovelling at her feet, was in reality slowly getting the better of her.

She sat 負かす／撃墜する, exhausted. As R駭ine had foretold, the duel had not lasted longer than a few minutes but it was she who had succumbed, thanks to her feminine 神経s and at the very moment when she felt する権利を与えるd to believe that she had won.

The man Pancaldi was fully aware of this; and, without troubling to invent a 移行, he 中止するd his jeremiads, leapt to his feet, 削減（する） a sort of agile caper before Hortense' 注目する，もくろむs and cried, in a jeering トン:

"Now we are going to have a little 雑談（する）; but it would be a nuisance to be at the mercy of the first passing 顧客, wouldn't it?"

He ran to the street-door, opened it and pulled 負かす／撃墜する the アイロンをかける shutter which の近くにd the shop. Then, still hopping and skipping, he （機の）カム 支援する to Hortense:

"Oof! I really thought I was done for! One more 成果／努力, madam, and you would have pulled it off. But then I'm such a simple chap! It seemed to me that you had come from the 支援する of beyond, as an 特使 of Providence, to call me to account; and, like a fool, I was about to give the thing 支援する...Ah, Mlle. Hortense—let me call you so: I used to know you by that 指名する—Mlle. Hortense, what you 欠如（する）, to use a vulgar 表現, is gut."

He sat 負かす／撃墜する beside her and, with a malicious look, said, savagely:

"The time has come to speak out. Who contrived this 商売／仕事? Not you; eh? It's not in your style. Then who?...I have always been honest in my life, scrupulously honest...except once...in the 事柄 of that clasp. And, 反して I thought the story was buried and forgotten, here it is suddenly raked up again. Why? That's what I want to know."

Hortense was no longer even 試みる／企てるing to fight. He was bringing to 耐える upon her all his virile strength, all his spite, all his 恐れるs, all the 脅しs 表明するd in his furious gestures and on his features, which were both ridiculous and evil:

"Speak, I want to know. If I have a secret 敵, let me defend myself against him! Who is he? Who sent you here? Who 勧めるd you to take 活動／戦闘? Is it a 競争相手 incensed by my good luck, who wants in his turn to 利益 by the clasp? Speak, can't you, damn it all...or, I 断言する by Heaven, I'll make you!..."

She had an idea that he was reaching out for his revolver and stepped 支援する, 持つ／拘留するing her 武器 before her, in the hope of escaping.

They thus struggled against each other; and Hortense, who was becoming more and more 脅すd, not so much of the attack as of her 加害者's distorted 直面する, was beginning to 叫び声をあげる, when Pancaldi suddenly stood motionless, with his 武器 before him, his fingers outstretched and his 注目する，もくろむs 星／主役にするing above Hortense's 長，率いる:

"Who's there? How did you get in?" he asked, in a stifled 発言する／表明する.

Hortense did not even need to turn 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to feel 保証するd that R駭ine was coming to her 援助 and that it was his inexplicable 外見 that was 原因（となる）ing the 売買業者 such 狼狽. As a 事柄 of fact, a slender 人物／姿／数字 stole through a heap of 平易な 議長，司会を務めるs and sofas: and R駭ine （機の）カム 今後 with a tranquil step.

"Who are you?" repeated Pancaldi. "Where do you come from?"

"From up there," he said, very amiably, pointing to the 天井.

"From up there?"

"Yes, from the first 床に打ち倒す. I have been the tenant of the 床に打ち倒す above this for the past three months. I heard a noise just now. Someone was calling out for help. So I （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する."

"But how did you get in here?"

"By the staircase."

"What staircase?"

"The アイロンをかける staircase, at the end of the shop. The man who owned it before you had a flat on my 床に打ち倒す and used to go up and 負かす／撃墜する by that hidden staircase. You had the door shut off. I opened it."

"But by what 権利, sir? It 量s to breaking in."

"Breaking in is 許すd, when there's a fellow-creature to be 救助（する）d."

"Once more, who are you?"

"Prince R駭ine...and a friend of this lady's," said R駭ine, bending over Hortense and kissing her 手渡す.

Pancaldi seemed to be choking, and mumbled:

"Oh, I understand!...You 扇動するd the 陰謀（を企てる）...it was you who sent the lady..."

"It was, M. Pancaldi, it was!"

"And what are your 意向s?"

"My 意向s are irreproachable. No 暴力／激しさ. 簡単に a little interview. When that is over, you will を引き渡す what I in my turn have come to fetch."

"What?"

"The clasp."

"That, never!" shouted the 売買業者.

"Don't say no. It's a foregone 結論."

"No 力／強力にする on earth, sir, can 強要する me to do such a thing!"

"Shall we send for your wife? Madame Pancaldi will perhaps realize the position better than you do."

The idea of no longer 存在 alone with this 予期しない adversary seemed to 控訴，上告 to Pancaldi. There was a bell on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する beside him. He struck it three times.

"資本／首都!" exclaimed R駭ine "You see, my dear, M. Pancaldi is becoming やめる amiable. Not a trace left of the devil broken loose who was going for you just now. No, M. Pancaldi only has to find himself 取引，協定ing with a man to 回復する his 質s of 儀礼 and 親切. A perfect sheep! Which does not mean that things will go やめる of themselves. Far from it! There's no more obstinate animal than a sheep..."

権利 at the end of the shop, between the 売買業者's 令状ing-desk and the winding staircase, a curtain was raised, admitting a woman who was 持つ／拘留するing a door open. She might have been thirty years of age. Very 簡単に dressed, she looked, with the apron on her, more like a cook than like the mistress of a 世帯. But she had an attractive 直面する and a pleasing 人物／姿／数字.

Hortense, who had followed R駭ine, was surprised to 認める her as a maid whom she had had in her service when a girl:

"What! Is that you, Lucienne? Are you Madame Pancaldi?"

The newcomer looked at her, 認めるd her also and seemed embarrassed. R駭ine said to her:

"Your husband and I need your 援助, Madame Pancaldi, to settle a rather 複雑にするd 事柄 a 事柄 in which you played an important part..."

She （機の）カム 今後 without a word, 明白に ill at 緩和する, asking her husband, who did not take his 注目する，もくろむs off her:

"What is it?...What do they want with me?...What is he referring to?"

"It's about the clasp!" Pancaldi whispered, under his breath.

These few words were enough to make Madame Pancaldi realize to the 十分な the 真面目さ of her position. And she did not try to keep her countenance or to retort with futile 抗議するs. She sank into a 議長，司会を務める, sighing:

"Oh, that's it!...I understand... Mlle. Hortense has 設立する the 跡をつける...Oh, it's all up with us!"

There was a moment's 一時的休止，執行延期. The struggle between the adversaries had hardly begun, before the husband and wife 可決する・採択するd the 態度 of 敗北・負かすd persons whose only hope lay in the 勝利者's 温和／情状酌量. 星／主役にするing motionless before her, Madame Pancaldi began to cry. R駭ine bent over her and said:

"Do you mind if we go over the 事例／患者 from the beginning? We shall then see things more 明確に; and I am sure that our interview will lead to a perfectly natural 解答...This is how things happened: nine years ago, when you were lady's maid to Mlle. Hortense in the country, you made the 知識 of M. Pancaldi, who soon became your lover. You were both of you Corsicans, in other words, you （機の）カム from a country where superstitions are very strong and where questions of good and bad luck, the evil 注目する，もくろむ, and （一定の）期間s and charms 発揮する a 深遠な 影響（力） over the lives of one and all. Now it was said that your young mistress' clasp had always brought luck to its owners. That was why, in a weak moment 誘発するd by M. Pancaldi, you stole the clasp. Six months afterwards, you became Madame Pancaldi...That is your whole story, is it not, told in a few 宣告，判決s? The whole story of two people who would have remained honest members of society, if they had been able to resist that casual 誘惑?...I need not tell you how you both 後継するd in life and how, 所有するing the talisman, believing its 力／強力にするs and 信用ing in yourselves, you rose to the first 階級 of antiquarians. Today, 井戸／弁護士席-off, owning this shop, 'The 水銀柱，温度計,' you せいにする the success of your undertakings to that clasp. To lose it would to your 注目する，もくろむs （一定の）期間 破産 and poverty. Your whole life has been centred upon it. It is your fetish. It is the little 世帯 god who watches over you and guides your steps. It is there, somewhere, hidden in this ジャングル; and no one of course would ever have 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd anything—for I repeat, you are decent people, but for this one lapse—if an 事故 had not led me to look into your 事件／事情／状勢s."

R駭ine paused and continued:

"That was two months ago, two months of minute 調査s, which 現在のd no difficulty to me, because, having discovered your 追跡する, I 雇うd the flat 総計費 and was able to use that staircase...but, all the same, two months wasted to a 確かな extent because I have not yet 後継するd. And Heaven knows how I have ransacked this shop of yours! There is not a piece of furniture that I have left unsearched, not a plank in the 床に打ち倒す that I have not 検査／視察するd. All to no 目的. Yes, there was one thing, an incidental 発見. In a secret 休会 in your 令状ing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, Pancaldi, I turned up a little account-調書をとる／予約する in which you have 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する your 悔恨, your uneasiness, your 恐れる of 罰 and your dread of God's wrath...It was 高度に imprudent of you, Pancaldi! People don't 令状 such 自白s! And, above all, they don't leave them lying about! Be this as it may, I read them and I 公式文書，認めるd one passage, which struck me as 特に important and was of use to me in 準備するing my 計画（する） of （選挙などの）運動をする: 'Should she come to me, the woman whom I robbed, should she come to me as I saw her in her garden, while Lucienne was taking the clasp; should she appear to me wearing the blue gown and the toque of red leaves, with the jet necklace and the whip of three plaited 急ぐs which she was carrying that day; should she appear to me thus and say: 'I have come to （人命などを）奪う，主張する my 所有物／資産／財産,' then I shall understand that her 行為／行う is 奮起させるd from on high and that I must obey the 法令 of Providence.' That is what is written in your 調書をとる／予約する, Pancaldi, and it explains the 行為／行う of the lady whom you call Mlle. Hortense. 事実上の／代理 on my 指示／教授／教育s and in 一致 with the setting thought out by yourself, she （機の）カム to you, from the 支援する of beyond, to use your own 表現. A little more self-所有／入手 on her part; and you know that she would have won the day. Unfortunately, you are a wonderful actor; your sham 自殺 put her out; and you understood that this was not a 法令 of Providence, but 簡単に an 不快な／攻撃 on the part of your former 犠牲者. I had no choice, therefore, but to 介入する. Here I am...And now let's finish the 商売／仕事. Pancaldi, that clasp!"

"No," said the 売買業者, who seemed to 回復する all his energy at the very thought of 回復するing the clasp.

"And you, Madame Pancaldi."

"I don't know where it is," the wife 宣言するd.

"Very 井戸／弁護士席. Then let us come to 行為s. Madame Pancaldi, you have a son of seven whom you love with all your heart. This is Thursday and, as on every Thursday, your little boy is to come home alone from his aunt's. Two of my friends are 地位，任命するd on the road by which he returns and, in the absence of 指示／教授／教育s to the contrary, will 誘拐する him as he passes."

Madame Pancaldi lost her 長，率いる at once:

"My son! Oh, please, please...not that!...I 断言する that I know nothing. My husband would never 同意 to confide in me."

R駭ine continued:

"Next point. This evening, I shall 宿泊する an （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） with the public 検察官，検事. 証拠: the 自白s in the account-調書をとる／予約する. Consequences: 活動／戦闘 by the police, search of the 前提s and the 残り／休憩（する）."

Pancaldi was silent. The others had a feeling that all these 脅しs did not 影響する／感情 him and that, 保護するd by his fetish, he believed himself to be invulnerable. But his wife fell on her 膝s at R駭ine's feet and stammered:

"No, no...I entreat you!...It would mean going to 刑務所，拘置所 and I don't want to go!...And then my son!...Oh, I entreat you!..."

Hortense, 掴むd with compassion, took R駭ine to one 味方する:

"Poor woman! Let me intercede for her."

"始める，決める your mind at 残り／休憩（する）," he said. "Nothing is going to happen to her son."

"But your two friends?"

"Sheer bluff."

"Your 使用／適用 to the public 検察官，検事?"

"A mere 脅し."

"Then what are you trying to do?"

"To 脅す them out of their wits, in the hope of making them 減少（する） a 発言／述べる, a word, which will tell us what we want to know. We've tried every other means. This is the last; and it is a method which, I find, nearly always 後継するs. Remember our adventures."

"But if the word which you 推定する／予想する to hear is not spoken?"

"It must be spoken," said R駭ine, in a low 発言する／表明する. "We must finish the 事柄. The hour is at 手渡す."

His 注目する，もくろむs met hers; and she blushed crimson at the thought that the hour to which he was alluding was the eighth and that he had no other 反対する than to finish the 事柄 before that eighth hour struck.

"So you see, on the one 手渡す, what you are 危険ing," he said to the Pancaldi pair. "The 見えなくなる of your child...and 刑務所，拘置所: 刑務所，拘置所 for 確かな , since there is the 調書をとる／予約する with its 自白s. And now, on the other 手渡す, here's my 申し込む／申し出: twenty thousand フランs if you を引き渡す the clasp すぐに, this minute. Remember, it isn't 価値（がある） three louis."

No reply. Madame Pancaldi was crying.

R駭ine 再開するd, pausing between each 提案:

"I'll 二塁打 my 申し込む／申し出...I'll treble it...Hang it all, Pancaldi, you're 不当な!...I suppose you want me to make it a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する sum? All 権利: a hundred thousand フランs."

He held out his 手渡す as if there was no 疑問 that they would give him the clasp.

Madame Pancaldi was the first to 産する／生じる and did so with a sudden 爆発 of 激怒（する） against her husband:

"井戸／弁護士席, 自白する, can't you?...Speak up!...Where have you hidden it?...Look here, you aren't going to be obstinate, what? If you are, it means 廃虚...and poverty...And then there's our boy!...Speak out, do!"

Hortense whispered:

"R駭ine, this is madness; the clasp has no value..."

"Never 恐れる," said R駭ine, "he's not going to 受託する...But look at him...How excited he is! 正確に／まさに what I 手配中の，お尋ね者...Ah, this, you know, is really exciting!...To make people lose their 長，率いるs! To 略奪する them of all 支配（する）／統制する over what they are thinking and 説!...And, in the 中央 of this 混乱, in the 嵐／襲撃する that 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするs them to and fro, to catch sight of the tiny 誘発する which will flash 前へ／外へ somewhere or other!...Look at him! Look at the fellow! A hundred thousand フランs for a valueless pebble...if not, 刑務所，拘置所: it's enough to turn any man's 長，率いる!"

Pancaldi, in fact, was grey in the 直面する; his lips were trembling and a 減少（する） of saliva was trickling from their corners. It was 平易な to guess the seething 騒動 of his whole 存在, shaken by 相反する emotions, by the 衝突／不一致 between greed and 恐れる. Suddenly he burst out; and it was obvious that his words were 注ぐing 前へ／外へ at 無作為の, without his knowing in the least what he was 説:

"A hundred thousand フランs! Two hundred thousand! Five hundred thousand! A million! A two fig for your millions! What's the use of millions? One loses them. They disappear...They go...There's only one thing that counts: luck. It's on your 味方する or else against you. And luck has been on my 味方する these last nine years. It has never betrayed me; and you 推定する／予想する me to betray it? Why? Out of 恐れる? 刑務所，拘置所? My son? Bosh!...No 害（を与える） will come to me so long as I 強要する luck to work on my に代わって. It's my servant, it's my friend. It 粘着するs to the clasp. How? How can I tell? It's the cornelian, no 疑問...There are 魔法 石／投石するs, which 持つ／拘留する happiness, as others 持つ／拘留する 解雇する／砲火／射撃, or sulphur, or gold..."

R駭ine kept his 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd upon him, watching for the least word, the least modulation of the 発言する／表明する. The curiosity-売買業者 was now laughing, with a nervous laugh, while 再開するing the self-支配（する）／統制する of a man who feels sure of himself: and he walked up to R駭ine with jerky movements that 明らかにする／漏らすd an 増加するing 決意／決議:

"Millions? My dear sir, I wouldn't have them as a gift. The little bit of 石／投石する which I 所有する is 価値（がある） much more than that. And the proof of it lies in all the 苦痛s which you are at to take it from me. Aha! Months 充てるd to looking for it, as you yourself 自白する! Months in which you turned everything topsy-turvy, while I, who 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd nothing, did not even defend myself! Why should I? The little thing defended itself all alone...It does not want to be discovered and it shan't be...It likes 存在 here...It 統括するs over a good, honest 商売／仕事 that 満足させるs it...Pancaldi's luck! Why, it's known to all the neighbourhood, の中で all the 売買業者s! I 布告する it from the housetops: 'I'm a lucky man!' I even made so bold as to take the god of luck, 水銀柱，温度計, as my patron! He too 保護するs me. See, I've got 水銀柱，温度計s all over my shop! Look up there, on that shelf, a whole 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of statuettes, like the one over the 前線-door, proofs 調印するd by a 広大な／多数の／重要な sculptor who went 粉砕する and sold them to me...Would you like one, my dear sir? It will bring you luck too. Take your 選ぶ! A 現在の from Pancaldi, to （不足などを）補う to you for your 敗北・負かす! Does that 控訴 you?"

He put a stool against the 塀で囲む, under the shelf, took 負かす／撃墜する a statuette and plumped it into R駭ine's 武器. And, laughing heartily, growing more and more excited as his enemy seemed to 産する／生じる ground and to 落ちる 支援する before his spirited attack, he explained:

"井戸／弁護士席 done! He 受託するs! And the fact that he 受託するs shows that we are all agreed! Madame Pancaldi, don't 苦しめる yourself. Your son's coming 支援する and nobody's going to 刑務所，拘置所! Goodbye, Mlle. Hortense! Good day, sir! Hope to see you again! If you want to speak to me at any time, just give three 強くたたくs on the 天井. Goodbye...don't forget your 現在の...and may 水銀柱，温度計 be 肉親，親類d to you! Goodbye, my dear Prince! Goodbye, Mlle. Hortense!..."

He hustled them to the アイロンをかける staircase, gripped each of them by the arm in turn and 押し進めるd them up to the little door hidden at the 最高の，を越す of the stairs.

And the strange thing was that R駭ine made no 抗議する. He did not 試みる／企てる to resist. He 許すd himself to be led along like a naughty child that is taken up to bed.

いっそう少なく than five minutes had elapsed between the moment when he made his 申し込む／申し出 to Pancaldi and the moment when Pancaldi turned him out of the shop with a statuette in his 武器.

* * *

The dining-room and 製図／抽選-room of the flat which R駭ine had taken on the first 床に打ち倒す looked out upon the street. The （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in the dining-room was laid for two.

"許す me, won't you?" said R駭ine, as he opened the door of the 製図／抽選-room for Hortense. "I thought that, whatever happened, I should most likely see you this evening and that we might 同様に dine together. Don't 辞退する me this 親切, which will be the last favour 認めるd in our last adventure."

Hortense did not 辞退する him. The manner in which the 戦う／戦い had ended was so different from everything that she had seen hitherto that she felt disconcerted. At any 率, why should she 辞退する, seeing that the 条件 of the 契約 had not been 実行するd?

R駭ine left the room to give an order to his manservant. Two minutes later, he （機の）カム 支援する for Hortense. It was then a little past seven.

There were flowers on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する; and the statue of 水銀柱，温度計, Pancaldi's 現在の, stood overtopping them.

"May the god of luck 統括する over our repast," said R駭ine.

He was 十分な of 活気／アニメーション and 表明するd his 広大な／多数の／重要な delight at having her sitting opposite him:

"Yes," he exclaimed, "I had to 訴える手段／行楽地 to powerful means and attract you by the bait of the most fabulous 企業s. You must 自白する that my letter was jolly smart! The three 急ぐs, the blue gown; 簡単に irresistible! And, when I had thrown in a few puzzles of my own 発明, such as the seventy-five beads of the necklace and the old woman with the silver rosary, I knew that you were bound to succumb to the 誘惑. Don't be angry with me. I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see you and I 手配中の，お尋ね者 it to be today. You have come and I thank you."

He next told her how he had got on the 跡をつける of the stolen trinket:

"You hoped, didn't you, in laying 負かす／撃墜する that 条件, that I shouldn't be able to fulfil it? You made a mistake, my dear. The 実験（する）, at least at the beginning, was 平易な enough, because it was based upon an undoubted fact: the talismanic character せいにするd to the clasp. I had only to 追跡（する） about and see whether の中で the people around you, の中で your servants, there was ever anyone upon whom that character may have 演習d some attraction. Now, on the 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of persons which I 後継するd in 製図／抽選 up. I at once noticed the 指名する of Mlle. Lucienne, as coming from Corsica. This was my starting-point. The 残り／休憩（する） was a mere concatenation of events."

Hortense 星／主役にするd at him in amazement. How was it that he was 受託するing his 敗北・負かす with such a careless 空気／公表する and even talking in a トン of 勝利, 反して really he had been soundly beaten by Pancaldi and even made to look just a trifle ridiculous?

She could not help letting him feel this; and the fashion in which she did so betrayed a 確かな 失望, a 確かな humiliation:

"Everything is a concatenation of events: very 井戸／弁護士席. But the chain is broken, because, when all is said, though you know the どろぼう, you did not 後継する in laying 手渡すs upon the stolen clasp."

The reproach was obvious. R駭ine had not accustomed her to 失敗. And その上に she was irritated to see how heedlessly he was 受託するing a blow which, after all, entailed the 廃虚 of any hopes that he might have entertained.

He did not reply. He had filled their two glasses with シャンペン酒 and was slowly emptying his own, with his 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on the statuette of 水銀柱，温度計. He turned it about on its pedestal and 診察するd it with the 注目する，もくろむ of a delighted connoisseur:

"What a beautiful thing is a harmonious line! Colour does not uplift me so much as 輪郭（を描く）, 割合, symmetry and all the wonderful 所有物／資産／財産s of form. Look at this little statue. Pancaldi's 権利: it's the work of a 広大な／多数の／重要な artist. The 脚s are both slender and muscular; the whole 人物／姿／数字 gives an impression of buoyancy and 速度(を上げる）. It is very 井戸／弁護士席 done. There's only one fault, a very slight one: perhaps you've not noticed it?"

"Yes, I have," said Hortense. "It struck me the moment I saw the 調印する, outside. You mean, don't you, a 確かな 欠如（する） of balance? The god is leaning over too far on the 脚 that carries him. He looks as though he were going to pitch 今後."

"That's very clever of you," said R駭ine. "The fault is almost imperceptible and it needs a trained 注目する，もくろむ to see it. Really, however, as a 事柄 of logic, the 負わせる of the 団体／死体 せねばならない have its way and, in 一致 with natural 法律s, the little god ought to take a header."

After a pause he continued:

"I noticed that 欠陥 on the first day. How was it that I did not draw an inference at once? I was shocked because the artist had sinned against an aesthetic 法律, 反して I せねばならない have been shocked because he had overlooked a physical 法律. As though art and nature were not blended together! And as though the 法律s of gravity could be 乱すd without some 根底となる 推論する／理由!"

"What do you mean?" asked Hortense, puzzled by these reflections, which seemed so far 除去するd from their secret thoughts. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing!" he said. "I am only surprised that I didn't understand sooner why 水銀柱，温度計 did not plump 今後, as he should have done."

"And what is the 推論する／理由?"

"The 推論する／理由? I imagine that Pancaldi, when pulling the statuette about to make it serve his 目的, must have 乱すd its balance, but that this balance was 回復するd by something which 持つ／拘留するs the little god 支援する and which makes up for his really too dangerous posture."

"Something, you say?"

"Yes, a counterweight."

Hortense gave a start. She too was beginning to see a little light. She murmured:

"A counterweight?...Are you thinking that it might be...in the pedestal?"

"Why not?"

"Is that possible? But, if so, how did Pancaldi come to give you this statuette?"

"He never gave me this one," R駭ine 宣言するd. "I took this one myself."

"But where? And when?"

"Just now, while you were in the 製図／抽選-room. I got out of that window, which is just over the signboard and beside the niche 含む／封じ込めるing the little god. And I 交流d the two, that is to say, I took the statue which was outside and put the one which Pancaldi gave me in its place."

"But doesn't that one lean 今後?"

"No, no more than the others do, on the shelf in his shop. But Pancaldi is not an artist. A 欠如（する） of equilibrium does not impress him; he will see nothing wrong; and he will continue to think himself favoured by luck, which is another way of 説 that luck will continue to favour him. 一方／合間, here's the statuette, the one used for the 調印する. Am I to break the pedestal and take your clasp out of the leaden sheath, soldered to the 支援する of the pedestal, which keeps 水銀柱，温度計 安定した?"

"No, no, there's no need for that," Hortense hurriedly murmured.

R駭ine's intuition, his subtlety, the 技術 with which he had managed the whole 商売／仕事: to her, for the moment, all these things remained in the background. But she suddenly remembered that the eighth adventure was 完全にするd, that R駭ine had surmounted every 障害, that the 実験（する） had turned to his advantage and that the extreme 限界 of time 直す／買収する，八百長をするd for the last of the adventures was not yet reached.

He had the cruelty to call attention to the fact:

"A ４半期/4分の1 to eight," he said.

An oppressive silence fell between them. Both felt its 不快 to such a degree that they hesitated to make the least movement. ーするために break it, R駭ine jested:

"That worthy M. Pancaldi, how good it was of him to tell me what I wished to know! I knew, however, that by exasperating him, I should end by 選ぶing up the 行方不明の 手がかり（を与える） in what he said. It was just as though one were to 手渡す someone a flint and steel and 示唆する to him that he was to use it. In the end, the 誘発する is 得るd. In my 事例／患者, what produced the 誘発する was the unconscious but 必然的な comparison which he drew between the cornelian clasp, the element of luck, and 水銀柱，温度計, the god of luck. That was enough. I understood that this 協会 of ideas arose from his having 現実に associated the two factors of luck by 具体的に表現するing one in the other, or, to speak more plainly, by hiding the trinket in the statuette. And I at once remembered the 水銀柱，温度計 outside the door and its 欠陥のある 宙に浮く..."

R駭ine suddenly interrupted himself. It seemed to him that all his 発言／述べるs were 落ちるing on deaf ears. Hortense had put her 手渡す to her forehead and, thus 隠すing her 注目する，もくろむs, sat motionless and remote.

She was indeed not listening. The end of this particular adventure and the manner in which R駭ine had 行為／法令／行動するd on this occasion no longer 利益／興味d her. What she was thinking of was the コンビナート／複合体 一連の adventures まっただ中に which she had been living for the past three months and the wonderful behaviour of the man who had 申し込む／申し出d her his devotion. She saw, as in a 魔法 picture, the fabulous 行為s 成し遂げるd by him, all the good that he had done, the lives saved, the 悲しみs assuaged, the order 回復するd wherever his 熟達した will had been brought to 耐える. Nothing was impossible to him. What he undertook to do he did. Every 目的（とする） that he 始める，決める before him was 達成するd in 前進する. And all this without 過度の 成果／努力, with the calmness of one who knows his own strength and knows that nothing can resist it.

Then what could she do against him? Why should she defend herself and how? If he 需要・要求するd that she should 産する／生じる, would he not know how to make her do so and would this last adventure be any more difficult for him than the others? Supposing that she ran away: did the wide world 含む／封じ込める a 退却／保養地 in which she would be 安全な from his 追跡? From the first moment of their first 会合, the end was 確かな , since R駭ine had 法令d that it should be so.

However, she still cast about for 武器s, for 保護 of some sort; and she said to herself that, though he had 実行するd the eight 条件s and 回復するd the cornelian clasp to her before the eighth hour had struck, she was にもかかわらず 保護するd by the fact that this eighth hour was to strike on the clock of the Ch穰eau de Halingre and not どこかよそで. It was a formal compact. R駭ine had said that day, gazing on the lips which he longed to kiss:

"The old 厚かましさ／高級将校連 pendulum will start swinging again; and, when, on the 直す／買収する，八百長をするd date, the clock once more strikes eight, then..."

She looked up. He was not moving either, but sat solemnly, 根気よく waiting.

She was on the point of 説, she was even 準備するing her words:

"You know, our 協定 says it must be the Halingre clock. All the other 条件s have been 実行するd...but not this one. So I am 解放する／自由な, am I not? I am する権利を与えるd not to keep my 約束, which, moreover, I never made, but which in any 事例／患者 落ちるs to the ground?...And I am perfectly 解放する／自由な...解放（する）d from any scruple of 良心?..."

She had not time to speak. At that 正確な moment, there was a click behind her, like that of a clock about to strike.

A first 一打／打撃 sounded, then a second, then a third.

Hortense moaned. She had 認めるd the very sound of the old clock, the Halingre clock, which three months ago, by breaking in a supernatural manner the silence of the 砂漠d ch穰eau, had 始める，決める both of them on the road of the eight adventures.

She counted the 一打／打撃s. The clock struck eight.

"Ah!" she murmured, half swooning and hiding her 直面する in her 手渡すs. "The clock...the clock is here...the one from over there...I 認める its 発言する／表明する..."

She said no more. She felt that R駭ine had his 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd upon her and this sapped all her energies. Besides, had she been able to 回復する them, she would have been no better off nor sought to 申し込む／申し出 him the least 抵抗, for the 推論する／理由 that she did not wish to resist. All the adventures were over, but one remained to be undertaken, the 予期 of which wiped out the memory of all the 残り／休憩（する）. It was the adventure of love, the most delightful, the most bewildering, the most adorable of all adventures. She 受託するd 運命／宿命's 法令, rejoicing in all that might come, because she was in love. She smiled in spite of herself, as she 反映するd that happiness was again to enter her life at the very moment when her 井戸／弁護士席-beloved was bringing her the cornelian clasp.

The clock struck the hour for the second time.

Hortense raised her 注目する，もくろむs to R駭ine. She struggled a few seconds longer. But she was like a charmed bird, incapable of any movement of 反乱; and at the eighth 一打／打撃 she fell upon his breast and 申し込む／申し出d him her lips...

THE END

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