"Yes, she certainly has a party for the vintage," he said.

"井戸／弁護士席 then, you see what I want you terribly to do," said Joyce, turning again に向かって him and plying him—oh, most 不公平に!—with all the glamour of a lovely girl's 信用／信任s and 控訴，上告ing 注目する，もくろむs. "If you will, of course. It's a little 祈り, of course. I have no （人命などを）奪う，主張する. But I know how 肉親，親類d you are—" Did she see the poor man flinch, that she must pile flattery upon 祈り and 支持を得ようと努める him with the most wistful, plaintive 発言する／表明する? "I want you to spend as much time as you can at the Ch穰eau Suvlac. You will be welcome, of course"—she 解任するd the ridiculous idea that he could ever be unwelcome with a flicker of her fingers. "You could watch. You can find out what is happening to Diana—whether there is anybody really dangerous to her amongst her associates and then—"

"And then I shall 令状 to you, of course," Mr. Ricardo said, as cheerfully as these arduous 義務s so confidently laid upon him enabled him to do. He was surprised, however, to discover that letters to Joyce Whipple upon the 支配する were not to be 含むd in his 義務s.

"No," she answered with a trifle of hesitation. "Of course I should love to hear from you—自然に I should, and not only about Diana—but I can't やめる tell where I shall be に向かって the end of September. No, what I want you to do is, once you have 設立する out what's wrong, to jump in and put a stop to it."

Mr. Ricardo sat 支援する in his 議長，司会を務める with a very worried 表現 on his 直面する. For all his finical ways and methodical habits he was at heart a romantic. To play the god for five minutes so that a few young people つまずくing in the 影をつくる／尾行するs might walk with sure feet in a serene light—he knew no higher 楽しみ than this. But romance must にもかかわらず be reasonable, even if it took the 形態／調整 of so engaging a young lady as Joyce Whipple. What she was 提案するing was work for heroes, not for middle-老年の gentlemen who had retired from Mincing 小道／航路. And as he ran over in his mind the 指名するs of more suitable 支持する／優勝者s, a tremendous fact leaped into his mind.

"But surely," he stammered in his 切望. "Diana Tasborough is engaged. Yes, I am sure of it. To a 罰金 young fellow too. He was in the Foreign Office and went out of it and into the City, because he didn't want to be the poor husband of a rich wife." Mr. Ricardo's memory was working at 軍隊d draught, now that he saw the way of escape 開始 in 前線 of him, a passage between the Scylla of 拒絶 and the Charybdis of 失敗. "Bryce Carter! That's his 指名する! That is his 商売／仕事. You must 述べる your experiences to him, 行方不明になる Whipple, and—"

But 行方不明になる Whipple 削減（する） him short, very curtly, whilst the 血 機動力のある curiously over her throat and painted her cheeks pink. "Bryce Carter has 衝突，墜落d."

Mr. Ricardo was shocked and disappointed. "In an aeroplane? I hadn't heard of it. I am so sorry. 衝突，墜落d? Dear me!"

"I mean," said Joyce 根気よく, "that Diana has broken off the 約束／交戦. That's another 推論する／理由 why I think something せねばならない be done about it. She was very much in love with him and it all went in a week or two—she gave him no 推論する／理由. So he's 閉めだした out, isn't he? I feel that I can't really stand aside —not, of course, that I have anything to do with it—" Joyce Whipple was 速く becoming incoherent, whilst the colour now 炎上d in her cheeks. "So unless you can help—"

But Mr. Ricardo felt that his position was more delicate than ever. He was not at all attracted by his companion's 混乱; and since the hoped—for avenue of escape was の近くにd for him, he cast 猛烈に about for another; and 設立する it.

"I have got it," he said, shaking a finger at her triumphantly.

"What have you got?" Joyce asked warily. "The only possible 解答 of the problem." He was most emphatic about it. There was to be no discussion at all. His 協定 must just go through.

"You are the one person 示すd to put the trouble 権利," he 宣言するd. "You are Diana's friend. You know all her other friends. You can 提案する yourself for her party at the Ch穰eau Suvlac. You have 影響（力） with her. If there is anyone— dangerous—wasn't that the word you used?—no one is so likely as you to discover who it is—yes."

He looked her over. There was a vividness about her, a suggestion of courage and independence which went very 井戸／弁護士席 with the straight, わずかな／ほっそりした 人物／姿／数字 and the delicate tidiness of her 外見. She seemed purposeful. This was the age of young women. By all means let one of them, radiant as Joyce Whipple, blow the trumpet and have the 激しい satisfaction of seeing the 塀で囲むs of this new Jericho 崩壊（する）. He himself would look on without one pang of envy from the house of the nobleman with the resonant 指名する, the Vicomte Cassandre de Mirandol.

"You! Of course, you!" he exclaimed admiringly.

Suddenly the positions were 逆転するd. So 広大な／多数の／重要な a 不快 was 明白な in Joyce Whipple's movements and in her 直面する that Mr. Ricardo was astonished. He had chanced upon a やめる 予期しない 欠陥 in her armoury. It was she who now must walk delicately.

"No 疑問," she 認める with a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 of 当惑. "Yes, and I have been asked to Suvlac... and I shall go if —I can. But I don't think that I can." She broke out passionately: "I wish with all my heart that I could! But I shall probably be out of reach. In America. That's why I said that it was of no use to 令状 to me, and why I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 荷を降ろす the whole problem upon you. You see"—she looked at Mr. Ricardo shyly and quickly looked away again—"you see, Cinderellas must be off the 前提s by midnight," and with a hurried ちらりと見ること at the clock, "and it's almost midnight now."

She rose quickly as she spoke, and with a smile and a pleasant word, she joined a small cluster of young people by the flower-banked grate. These had 明白に been waiting for her, for they wished their hostess good night and すぐに went away.

Mr. Ricardo certainly had the satisfaction of knowing that he had not committed himself to Joyce Whipple's 目的s. But the satisfaction was not very real. The 半端物 story which she had told him was just the sort of story which 控訴，上告d to him; for he had a curious passion for the bizarre. And even then he was いっそう少なく intrigued by the narrative than by the 語り手. He tried indeed to 直す／買収する，八百長をする his mind upon the problem of Diana Tasborough. But the problem of Joyce Whipple popped up instead. Almost before he realized his untimely behaviour, he had got her dressed up like some wilful beauty of the Second Empire. There she was, sitting in 前線 of him, as he drove 支援する to his house in Grosvenor Square, her white shoulders rising entrancingly out of one of those 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, escalloped gowns which kept up heaven knows how, and spread in voluminous 倍のs about her feet. Yet even so, with her thus attired before his 注目する，もくろむs, as it were, he began to 疑問, to wonder whether he was not growing a trifle old-fashioned and prejudiced. For after all, could Joyce Whipple, with her straight, slender 四肢s, her wrists and 手渡すs and feet and ankles as 壊れやすい seemingly as glass, have looked more lovely in any age than she had looked in the short shimmering frock which she had worn that night? Her 発言する／表明する certainly supported the argument that her proper period was the Second Empire. For instead of the きびきびした high 公式文書，認めるs to which he was accustomed, it was soft and low and melodious and had a curiously wistful little drawl which it needed 広大な／多数の／重要な strength of character to resist. There were, however, other points which 影響する／感情d him いっそう少なく pleasantly. Why had his two suggestions thrown her into so manifest a 混乱? What had she to do with Bryce Carter that she must blush so furiously over the 決裂 of his 約束／交戦 to Diana Tasborough? And—

"Bless my soul," he cried, in the 孤独 of his リムジン, "what was all this talk of Cinderella?" The glass-slipper 部分 of that pretty legend was all very appropriate and suitable. But the 残り／休憩（する） of it? 行方不明になる Joyce Whipple had come over from the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs with a sister a year or two older than herself, and almost as pretty—yes. The sister had married recently and had married 井戸／弁護士席—yes. But before that event, for two years wherever the fun of the fair was to be 設立する, there also were the Whipple girls. Deauville and Dinard had known them and the moors of Scotland, from which Mr. Ricardo was 除外するd. He himself had seen Joyce Whipple 炎上ing on the sands of the Lido in satin pyjamas of burnt orange. For Mr. Ricardo was one of those seemly people who from time to time looked in at the Lido in order that they might preach sermons about its vulgarities with a sound and 徹底的な knowledge. Joyce Whipple had certainly looked rather dazzling in her burnt orange pyjamas—but at that moment Mr. Ricardo's car stopped at his 前線 door and put an end to his reflections. Perhaps it was just 同様に.

CHAPTER 3. — THE MAN WITH THE BEARD

A MONTH later chance, or 運命, if so large a word can be used in 関係 with Mr. Ricardo, conspired with Joyce Whipple. Mr. Ricardo was drinking his morning coffee at the reasonable hour of ten in his 罰金 sitting-room on the first 床に打ち倒す of the Hotel Majestic, with his unopened letters in a neat pile at his 肘, when the 令状ing upon the envelope of the 最高の，を越す one caught and held his 注目する，もくろむ. It was known to him, but he did not 認める it. He was in a vacuous mood. The sun was 注ぐing in through the open windows. It was more pleasant to sit and idly 推測する who was his 特派員 than to 涙／ほころび open the envelope and find out. But years ago he had received a lesson in this very room at Aix-les-Bains on the 支配する of unopened letters, and, remembering it, he opened the letter and turned at once to the 署名. He was a little more than 利益／興味d to read the 指名する of Diana Tasborough. He read the whole letter 熱望して now. The Vicomte Cassandre de Mirandol did not, after all, 提案する to bring his servants out of Bordeaux and open up his ch穰eau for the vintage. He would be amongst his vineyards himself for ten days or so, with no more 出席 than his valet and the housekeeper at the ch穰eau. Under these circumstances it would be more comfortable for Mr. Ricardo if he put up at the Ch穰eau Suvlac.

There will only be a small party, and you will 完全にする it, Diana wrote very politely. You will 会合，会う Monsieur de Mirandol at dinner here, and I shall look 今後 to your arrival on the 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of September.

Mr. Ricardo had perused every word of this letter before he realized that it had 刺激するd in him no uncanny sensations whatever; and when he did realize that disconcerting fact, he was not a little mortified. But there it was. Not one dead 溺死するd incomplete malignant 直面する heaved on a tide between the 署名／調印する and the paper. No, not one! It is true that the 署名／調印する was purple instead of 黒人／ボイコット; and for a moment or two Mr. Ricardo sought an unworthy なぐさみ in that difference. But his natural honesty made him 拒絶する it. The colour of the 署名／調印する could be only the most superficial circumstance.

"Not one dead 溺死するd 直面する, not a suggestion of evil, not a pang of alarm," Mr. Ricardo 発表するd to himself as he nicked the letter away with かなりの indignation. "And yet I am no いっそう少なく 極度の慎重さを要する than other people."

It might be, of course, that if he 一時停止するd his mind more 完全に he in his turn might receive the thrill of a message from the world beyond. It was certainly 価値（がある） an 実験.

"My best 計画（する）," he argued, "will be to shut my 注目する，もくろむs tight and think of nothing whatever for five minutes. Then I will read the letter again."

He shut his 注目する，もくろむs accordingly with the greatest 決意. He was modest. He did not ask for very much. If he saw something pink and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する like a jelly-fish when he opened his 注目する，もくろむs, he would be content and his pride やめる 回復するd. But he must give himself time. He 許すd what he took to be a space of five minutes. Then he opened his 注目する，もくろむs, pounced upon the letter— and received one of the most terrible shocks of his life. On the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, by the letter, 残り／休憩（する）d a 手渡す, and beyond the 手渡す an arm. Mr. Ricardo with startled 注目する，もくろむs followed the line of the arm 上向きs, and then uttering a sharp cry like the bark of a dog he slid his 議長，司会を務める backwards.

Mr. Ricardo with startled 注目する，もくろむs followed the line of the arm 上向きs.

He blinked, 同様に he might do. For sitting over against him, on the other 味方する of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, sprung silently; heaven knew whence, sat a brigand—no いっそう少なく —a burly brigand of the most repulsive and 脅迫的な 外見. A 黒人／ボイコット cloak was wrapped about his shoulders in the Spanish style, a big, unkempt, bristling 耐えるd grew like a thicket upon his 直面する, and 鎮圧するd upon his brows he wore a high-栄冠を与えるd, 幅の広い-brimmed soft felt hat. He sat amazingly still and gazed at Mr. Ricardo with lowering 注目する，もくろむs as though he were watching some obnoxious 黒人／ボイコット beetle.

Mr. Ricardo was 脅すd out of his wits. He sprang up with his heart racing in his breast. He 設立する somewhere a shrill piercing 発言する／表明する with which to speak.

"How dare you? What are you doing in my room, sir? Go out before I have you flung into 刑務所，拘置所! Who are you?"

Upon that the brigand, with a movement swift as the shutter of a camera, 解除するd up his 耐えるd, which hung by two bent wires upon his ears, until it 事業／計画（する）d from his forehead, leaving the lower part of his 直面する exposed.

"I am Hanaudski. The King of the Chekas," said the alarming person, and with another swift movement he nicked the 耐えるd 支援する into its proper position.

Mr. Ricardo sank 負かす／撃墜する into his 議長，司会を務める, exhausted by this second interval his incongruous friendship with Mr. Ricardo. It had begun a lustrum ago in Aix-les-Bains, and since Hanaud took his holidays at a modest hotel of this pleasant spa, each August 再確認するd it. Mr. Ricardo was always aware that he must 支払う／賃金 for this friendship. For now he was irritated to the 限界s of endurance by Hanaud's reticence when anything serious was on foot; and now he was 勧めるd in all solemnity to expound his 見解（をとる）s, which were then rent to pieces, and ridiculed and jumped upon; and again he 設立する himself as now the 犠牲者 of a sort of schoolboy impishness which Hanaud seemed to mistake for humour, and was in any event 全く out of place in a serious person. In return, Mr. Ricardo was 許すd to know the inner terrible truth of a good many strange 事例／患者s which remained uncomfortable mysteries to the general public. But there were 限界s to the price he was 用意が出来ている to 支払う／賃金, and this morning Monsieur Hanaud had stepped beyond them.

"This is too much," said Mr. Ricardo, as soon as he had 回復するd his speech. "You come into my room upon tiptoe and unannounced at a time when I am giving myself up to thought-集中. You catch me—I 収容する／認める it—in a ridiculous position, which is not half so ridiculous as your own. You are, after all, Monsieur Hanaud, a man of middle age—" And he broke off helplessly.

There was no use in making reproaches. Hanaud was not listening. He was utterly pleased with himself. He was 吸収するd in that 楽しみ. He kept 解除するing up his 耐えるd with that incredibly swift movement of his 手渡す, 説 to himself with startling 暴力／激しさ, "Hanaudski, the Cheka King," and then nicking 負かす／撃墜する the 広大な／多数の／重要な valance of matted hair into its 初めの position.

"Hanaudski, the King of the Chekas! Hanaudski from Moscow! Hanaudski, the Terror of the Steppes!"

"And how long do you 提案する to go on with this grotesque behaviour?" Mr. Ricardo asked. "I should really be ashamed, even if I were able to excuse myself on the ground of Gallic levity."

That phrase 回復するd to Mr. Ricardo a good 取引，協定 of his self-esteem. Even Hanaud 認めるd the shrewdness of the blow.

"Aha! You catch me one, my friend. A stinger. My Gallic levity. Yes, it is a phrase which punishes. But see my defence! How often have you said to me, and, oh, how much more often have you said to yourself: 'That poor man Hanaud! He will never be a good 探偵，刑事, because he doesn't wear 誤った 耐えるd. He doesn't know the 支配するs and he won't learn them.' So all through the winter I grow sad. Then with the summer I shake myself together. I say: 'I must have my dear friend proud of me. I will do something. I will show him the 探偵，刑事 of his dreams.'"

"And instead, you showed me a 削減（する）-throat," Mr. Ricardo replied coldly.

Hanaud disconsolately 除去するd his trappings and 倍のd them neatly in a pile. Then he cocked his 長，率いる at his companion. "You are angry with me?"

Mr. Ricardo did not demean himself to reply to so needless a question. He returned to his letter; and for a little while the 気温 of the room even on that morning of sunlight was low. Hanaud, however, was unabashed. He smoked 黒人／ボイコット cigarette after 黒人／ボイコット cigarette, taking them from a 有望な blue paper packet, with now and then a whimsical smile at his ruffled friend. And in the end Mr. Ricardo's curiosity got the better of his indignation.

"Here is a letter," he said, and he took it across the room to Hanaud. "You shall tell me if you find anything 半端物 about it."

Hanaud read the 演説（する）／住所 of an hotel in Biarritz, the 署名 and the letter itself. He turned it over and looked up at Mr. Ricardo.

"You draw my 脚, eh?" he said; and proud, as he always was, of his mastery of English idioms, he repeated the phrase. "Yes, you draw my 脚."

"I don't draw your 脚," Mr. Ricardo answered with a touch of his 最近の testiness. "A most unusual 表現."

Hanaud took the sheet of paper to the window and held it up to the light. He felt it between his fingers, and he saw his companion's 注目する，もくろむs brighten 熱望して. There could be no 疑問 that Mr. Ricardo was very much in earnest about this simple 招待.

"No," he said at length. "I read nothing but that you are bidden to the Ch穰eau Suvlac for the vintage by a lady. I congratulate you, for the Bordeaux of the Ch穰eau Suvlac is amongst the most delicate of the second growths."

"That, of course, I knew," said Mr. Ricardo.

"To be sure," Hanaud agreed あわてて and with all possible deference. "But I find nothing 半端物 in this letter."

"You were feeling it delicately with the tips of your fingers, as though some curious sensation passed from it into you."

Hanaud shook his 長，率いる.

"A mere question in my mind whether there was anything strange in the texture of the paper. But no! It is what a thousand hotels 供給（する） to their （弁護士の）依頼人s. What troubles you, my friend?"

With even more hesitation than Joyce Whipple had used, Mr. Ricardo repeated the account which she had given to him of her disquieting reactions to letters written in that 手渡す. Joyce had 自白するd that even to herself, when she （機の）カム to translate them into spoken words, they shredded away into nothing at all. How much more elusive they must sound 関係のある now at second 手渡す to this hard-hearted 仲買人 in realities? But Hanaud did not scoff. Indeed, a look of actual 不快 深くするd the lines upon his 直面する as the story proceeded, and when Mr. Ricardo had finished he sat for a little while silent and strangely 乱すd. Finally he rose and placed himself in a 議長，司会を務める at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する opposite to his friend.

"I tell you," he said, his 肘s on the cloth and his 手渡すs clasped together in 前線 of him. "I hate such tales as these. I を取り引きする very 広大な／多数の／重要な 事柄s, the liberties and lives of people who have just that one life in that one 団体／死体. Therefore I must be very careful, lest wrong be done. If through fault of 地雷 you do worse than lose five years out of your few, if you keep them, but keep them in hardship and penance, nothing can make my fault up to you. I must be always sure—yes, I must always know before I move. I must be able to say to myself, 'This man or that woman has deliberately done this or that thing which the 法律 forbids,' before I lay the 手渡す upon the shoulder. But a story like yours—and I ask myself, 'What do I know? Can I ever be sure?'"

"Then you don't laugh?" cried Mr. Ricardo, at once relieved and impressed.

Hanaud threw wide his 手渡すs. "I laugh—yes—with my friends, at my friends, as I hope they laugh with me and at me. I am human—yes. But stories like this one of yours make me humble too. I don't laugh at them. I know men and women who have but to look into a 水晶 and they see strange people moving in strange rooms, and all more vivid than scenes upon a 行う／開催する／段階. But I? I see nothing—never! Never! It is I who am blind? Or that other who is crazy? I don't know. But いつかs I am troubled by these questions. They are not good for me. No! They make me uneasy about myself—yes, I 疑問 Hanaud! Conceive that, if it is possible!"

He unclasped his 手渡すs and flung out his 武器 with something burlesque and extravagant in the gesture. But Mr. Ricardo was not deceived. His friend had 自白するd the truth. There were moments when Hanaud 疑問d Hanaud—moments when he, like Mr. Ricardo, was aware of 割れ目s in the opal crust.

Hanaud bent his 注目する，もくろむs again upon that handwriting which had so alarming a message for just one person alone, and not an 原子 of significance for the 残り／休憩（する）.

"She has broken off her 約束／交戦—this young lady. 行方不明になる Tasborough," he said, pronouncing the 指名する as Tasbruff. "That is curious too." He sat for a moment or two in an abstraction. "There are three explanations, my friend, of which we may take our choice. One. Your 行方不明になる Whipple is playing some trick on you, for some end we do not know of. To 設立する her credit—after some—thing has happened. To be able to say: 'I foresaw—I tried to 回避する it. I 警告するd Mr. Ricardo.' Eh? Have you thought of that?"

He nodded his 長，率いる slowly and emphatically at his friend, who certainly had not thought of anything of the 肉親，親類d. But the notion 乱すd Mr. Ricardo a little now. He had after all been troubled on his way home after that conversation. Troubled by an excuse which Joyce Whipple had given for her own 無（不）能 to 干渉する. "Cinderellas must be off the 前提s by midnight." What sort of an excuse was that for a young lady with a 麻薬を吸う-井戸／弁護士席 of oil in California? No, it certainly wouldn't do!

But Hanaud, reading his thoughts, raised a 警告 手渡す. "Let us not run too 急速な／放蕩な. There are still two explanations. The second? 行方不明になる Whipple is an hysterical—she must make excitements. She is vain, as the hysterical invariably are."

Here Mr. Ricardo shook his 長，率いる; as emphatically as a moment ago Hanaud had nodded his. That spruce young lady with tidiness for her monomark dwelt thousands of leagues away from the country of hysteria. Mr. Ricardo preferred explanation number one. It was more likely and infinitely more thrilling. But he must not be in a hurry.

"And your third explanation?" he asked. Hanaud 押し進めるd the letter 支援する to Ricardo and rose from his 議長，司会を務める, slapping his 手渡すs against his hips.

"Why, 簡単に that she was speaking the truth. That some 警告 （機の）カム to her through that handwriting, even though the writer knew nothing of the 警告 she was sending."

Hanaud turned away to the window and stood for a while looking out over the little pleasant spa, its 設立 of baths 負かす／撃墜する here by the park, its gay casino over there, and its 郊外住宅s and hotels 向こうずねing amongst green streets. But he was 深い in his own reflections. He might have been gazing at a 塀で囲む for all that he saw. Mr. Ricardo had seen him in such a mood before, and he knew that this was a moment which it would be definitely inadvisable to interrupt. A sensation of awe stole over him. He felt the 床に打ち倒す of the opal very brittle beneath his feet.

Hanaud turned his 長，率いる に向かって his companion, without in any other way relaxing his 態度.

"The Ch穰eau Suvlac is thirty kilometres from Bordeaux?" he asked.

"Thirty-eight and a half," Mr. Ricardo replied helpfully. He was nothing if not 正確な.

Hanaud turned once again to the window. But a minute afterwards, with a 広大な／多数の／重要な heave of his shoulders, he shook his perplexities from him.

"I am on my holiday," he cried. "Let me not spoil it! Come! Your servant, the invaluable Thomson, shall pack up my Hanaudski paraphernalia and send it 支援する at your expense to the Od駮n Theatre from which I borrowed it yesterday. You and I, we will モーター in your 罰金 car to the Lake Bourget, where we will take our 昼食, and then like good wholesome tourists we will make an excursion on the steamboat."

He was all gaiety and good-humour. But he had broken in upon the sacred curriculum of his holiday; and all that day, as Mr. Ricardo was aware, some 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な 憶測s were with an 成果／努力 held at bay.

CHAPTER 4. — RIDDLES FOR MR. RICARDO

MR. RICARDO 進歩d in a leisurely fashion from Bordeaux, staying a day here and a night there, and arrived at the Ch穰eau Suvlac at six o'clock on the evening of the twenty-first of September, a Wednesday. The day of the week is important. For the last mile he had driven along a 私的な road which sloped gently 上向きs. On the 最高の，を越す of this rise stood the house, a 深い quadrangle of rose-pink 石／投石する with its two squat 一連の会議、交渉／完成する turrets breaking the line of the main building at each end, and the two long wings stretching out to the road. The 前線 of the quadrangle was open, and in the middle of this space rose a high arch 完全に by itself, like some old triumphal arch of Rome. This 味方する of the house looked to the south-west, and the ground fell away from it in a slope of vineyard to a long and wide level of pasture. At the end of this plain of grass there rose a 限定された hill upon which, through a 審査する of trees, a small white house could just be seen. As Mr. Ricardo stood with his 支援する to the Ch穰eau Suvlac, stretching his 脚s after his long 運動, he saw that a 第２位 road struck off at the end of the sloping vineyard, descended the incline, passed a group of farm buildings and a garage just where the vineyard joined the pasture-land, but on the opposite 味方する of the road, and climbed again に向かって the small white house.

計画（する） of Ch穰eau Suvlac.

No one of the house-party was at home except the aunt and chaperon, Mrs. Tasborough, who was lying 負かす／撃墜する. Mr. Ricardo was served with a cup of tea by Jules Amad馥, the young manservant, in the big 製図／抽選-room, which opened on to the 石／投石する terrace and looked out over the wide Gironde to the misty northern shore. Having drunk his tea he sauntered out on to the terrace. Four shallow steps led 負かす／撃墜する into a garden of lawns and flowers, and on his 権利 手渡す a closely 工場／植物d avenue of trees sloped almost to the hedge at the 底（に届く） of the garden, 避難所ing the house and shutting out from its 見解（をとる） the 大規模な 範囲 of ch臺s where the ワイン was 蓄える／店d and the big vats were housed.

Mr. Ricardo walked 負かす／撃墜する across the lawn to the hedge and, passing through a gate on to a water meadow, saw a little to his 権利 a tiny harbour with a 上陸-行う／開催する／段階 to which a gabare, one of those sloop-rigged 激しい sailing boats which carry the river 貿易（する）, was moored. A captain and two 手渡すs were engaged in 荷を降ろすing 蓄える／店s for the house. Mr. Ricardo, curious as ever, made his 調査s. The captain, a big 黒人／ボイコット-bearded man, was very willing to 受託する a cigarette and break off his work.

"Yes, monsieur, these are my two sons. We keep the work in the family. No, the gabare is not 地雷 yet. Monsieur Webster, the スパイ／執行官 of mademoiselle, bought her and put me in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金, and when I 支払う／賃金 off the cost she will be 地雷. Soon?" The captain flung out his 武器 in a gesture of despair. "It is difficult to grow rich on the Gironde. For half of our lives we are waiting for the tide. See, monsieur! But for those 悪口を言う／悪態d tides, I could finish my work here, and start 支援する for Bordeaux later in the night. But no! I must wait for the flow and I shall not put out until six o'clock in the morning. Ah, it is difficult for the poor to live, monsieur." He had his 十分な 株 of the French 小作農民's compassion for himself, but he was sitting on the stout 防御壁／支持者 of the boat and he began to 一打／打撃 and caress the 支持を得ようと努めるd as though there were nothing nearer to his heart. "The gabare is a good gabare," he continued. "She will last for many years, and perhaps I shall own her sooner than a lot of people think."

His little 注目する，もくろむs, 始める，決める too の近くに together under 激しい 黒人／ボイコット eyebrows, gleamed unpleasantly. He had not only the self-pity of his 肉親，親類d but its avarice too. He was not, however, very clever, Mr. Ricardo inferred. No man could be clever who paraded such an 空気／公表する of cunning before a stranger. The captain, however, waked to the knowledge that his two sons had stopped working too. He 強くたたくd upon the 防御壁／支持者.

"Rascals and good-for-nothings, it is not to you that the gentleman 会談! To work!" he cried in a 激怒（する）. "Bah! You are only fit to turn the paddles of Le Petit Mousse in the public gardens."

Mr. Ricardo smiled. He had sauntered through the public gardens at Bordeaux only yesterday. He had seen Le Petit Mousse, a little 楽しみ boat 形態／調整d like a swan, floating on an ornamental water. It had two little paddle wheels which were turned by two little boys, and on Sundays and 祝日，祝う days it 始める，決める out upon adventurous little voyages under the palms and chestnuts.

The 青年s 再開するd their work, and Mr. Ricardo turned away from the little ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる. He noticed, without 支払う／賃金ing any particular attention to the circumstance, the 指名する upon her 屈服するs—La Belle Simone. He would probably never have noticed it at all, but the first two words of it were 天候d and the third stood out glaringly in fresh white paint. Inquisitiveness made him ask: "You have changed her 指名する?"

"Yes. I 指名するd her La Belle Diane. A little compliment, you understand. But Monsieur Webster said no, I must change it. For mademoiselle would think she looked the fool if ever she perceived it. Not that mademoiselle perceives very much these days," and his little 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs glittered between half-の近くにd lids. "However, I changed it."

Mr. Ricardo turned away. He walked 支援する along the 幅の広い avenue and saw beyond the 国境 of trees, on the far 味方する from the house, a little chalet of two storeys, which stood by itself in an open space, and was approached by a small white gate and a garden 有望な with flowers. It was now, however, seven o'clock, and without 調査するing it Mr. Ricardo returned to the 製図／抽選-room. There was still no 調印する of the house-party. He rang for Jules Amad馥, and was 行為／行うd by him to his bedroom at the very end of the eastern wing. It was a 罰金 big room with two windows, one in the 前線 which 命令（する）d the sloping vineyard, the pasture land and the wooded hill opposite, the other at the 味方する, looking upon the avenue and affording a glimpse of the little chalet beyond. Mr. Ricardo dressed with the scrupulous attention to his 洗面所 which not for the kingdom of Tartary would he have 修正するd; and he was still giving the final caress to the バタフライ 屈服する of his cravat when, over the 最高の，を越す of the looking-glass, he saw a youngish man in a dinner-jacket cross the avenue に向かって the ch穰eau. The 推論する／理由 for the chalet was now （疑いを）晴らす to Mr. Ricardo.

"A guest-house for the younger bachelors," said he. "Thomson, my pumps and the shoehorn, if you please."

He walked 負かす／撃墜する the long 回廊（地帯）—he was astonished to notice what a large tract of ground the house covered, and how many empty rooms stood with their doors open—turned to the left at the end of it, and （機の）カム to the 製図／抽選-room, which was in the very centre of the main building. As he stood at the door, the hall and the 前線 door was just behind him. He stood there for a few moments, listening to a chatter of 発言する／表明するs and 侵略するd by an 半端物 excitement. Was he to solve by one flash of insight the mystery of Joyce Whipple's letters? Was he to look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the room and identify by an inspiration the 悪意のある 人物／姿／数字 of the person who had 拘留するd Diana Tasborough in the seclusion of Biarritz throughout the summer?

"Now," he said to himself 堅固に. "Now," and with a gesture of melodrama he flung open the door and stepped 速く within. He was a little disappointed. Certainly there was a moment of silence, but the abruptness of his 入り口 accounted for that. No one flinched, and the interrupted conversations broke out again.

Diana Tasborough, looking as pretty as ever in a pale green frock, hurried to him.

"I am so glad that you could come, Mr. Ricardo," she said pleasantly. "You know my aunt, don't you, very 井戸／弁護士席?"

Mr. Ricardo shook 手渡すs with Mrs. Tasborough.

"But—I am not sure—I think Mrs. Devenish is a stranger to you."

Mrs. Devenish was a young woman of about twenty-five years, tall, dark of hair, with a 有望な complexion, and 黒人／ボイコット liquid 注目する，もくろむs. She was brilliant rather than beautiful, big, and she 示唆するd to Mr. Ricardo 嵐／襲撃するs and wild passions. It passed through his mind that if he ever had to take a meal with her alone, it should be tea and not supper. She gave him her 権利 手渡す negligently, and by chance Mr. Ricardo's gaze fell upon the other. Mrs. Devenish wore no wedding-（犯罪の）一味, no jewels indeed of any description.

"No, I don't think we have ever met," she said with a smile, and suddenly—it was certainly not 予定 to her 発言する／表明する, for he had never heard her utter a word before, it may have been 予定 to some gesture of her 手渡す, or to some movement of her 団体／死体 as she turned to 再開する her conversation, it was probably 予定 to the slowness of Mr. Ricardo's perceptions—anyway, suddenly he was conscious of a thrill of 勝利. So quickly had he solved Joyce Whipple's problem. Mrs. Devenish was the 支配するing 軍隊 which menaced Diana Tasborough. She was the malignant one. It was true that he had not met her before, but he had seen her, and in just those morbid circumstances which settled the question finally.

"Yet, I saw you, I think, 正確に／まさに nine days ago in Bordeaux," he said, and he could have sworn that terror, sheer, stark naked terror, 星／主役にするd at him out of the depths of her 注目する，もくろむs. But it was there only for a moment. She looked Mr. Ricardo over from his pumps to his neat grey hair and laughed.

"Where?" she asked; and Mr. Ricardo was silent. It was an ぎこちない, bold question. He was more than a little shy of answering it. For he would be 告発する／非難するing himself of a taste for morbidities if he did. He might look a little puerile, too.

"Perhaps I was wrong," he said, and Mrs. Devenish laughed again and not too pleasantly.

Mr. Ricardo was 救助（する）d from his uncomfortable position by his young hostess, who laid her 手渡す upon his arm.

"You must now make the 知識 of your host that was to have been," she said. "Monsieur Le Vicomte Cassandre de Mirandol."

Mr. Ricardo had been startled by the previous introduction. He was shocked by this one. No 疑問, he 反映するd, there were all sorts of 改革運動家s, but he could not imagine this one 嵐／襲撃するing the 塀で囲むs of Acre. He was a tall, 激しい, 甚だしい／１２ダース man with a rubicund childish 直面する, 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and dimpled; he had a mouth much too small for him and fat red lips, and he was やめる bald.

"I shall look upon your visit to me as 単に 延期するd, Mr. Ricardo," he said in a thin, 麻薬を吸うing 発言する／表明する, and he gave Mr. Ricardo a 手渡す which was boneless and wet. Mr. Ricardo made up his mind upon the instant that he would rather abandon altogether his 年次の 巡礼の旅 than be the guest of this link with the 改革運動家s. He had never in his life come across so displeasing a personage. He should have been ridiculous, but he was not. He made Mr. Ricardo uncomfortable, and the feel of his wet boneless 手渡す ぐずぐず残るd with the 訪問者 as something disgusting. He could hardly 隠す his 救済 when Diana Tasborough turned him に向かって the man whom he had seen crossing from the chalet.

"This is Mr. コマドリ Webster, my 経営者／支配人, and my creditor," said Diana with a charming smile. "For I 借りがある to him the 繁栄 of the vineyard."

Mr. Webster disclaimed the 賞賛する of his mistress very pleasantly. "I neither made the 国／地域 nor 工場／植物d the vines, nor work any 奇蹟s at all, Mr. Ricardo. 地雷 is a simple humble office which 行方不明になる Tasborough's 親切 makes a 楽しみ rather than a toil."

The disclaimer might have sounded just a trifle too humble but for the attractive frankness of his manner. He was of the 普通の／平均（する） 高さ with やめる white hair, and a pair of 有望な blue 注目する，もくろむs. But the white hair was in him no 調印する of age. Mr. Ricardo put him 負かす／撃墜する at somewhere between thirty-five and forty years of age, and could not remember to have seen a man of a more handsome 外見. He was clean-shaven, fastidious in his dress, with some touch of the exquisite. He spoke with a 確かな precision in his articulation which for some unaccountable 推論する／理由 was familiar to Mr. Ricardo; and altogether Mr. Ricardo was charmed to find anyone so companionable and friendly.

"I shall look 今後 to seeing something of the vintage under your 指導／手引 tomorrow, Mr. Webster," he said; and a 発言する／表明する あられ／賞賛するd him from the long window which stood open to the terrace.

"And not one word of 迎える／歓迎するing for me, Mr. Ricardo?"

Joyce Whipple was standing in the window relieved against the evening light. Of the 苦悩 which had clouded her 直面する the last time he had seen her, there was not a trace. She was dressed in a shimmering frock of silver lace, there was a tinge of colour in her 直面する, and she smiled at him joyously.

"So, after all, you put off your return to America," he said, 前進するing 熱望して に向かって her.

"For a month, which is almost ended," she replied. "I am leaving here tomorrow for Cherbourg."

"If we let you go," said de Mirandol gallantly; a phrase which Mr. Ricardo was to remember.

Mr. Ricardo was introduced to two young ladies from the neighbourhood and two young men from Bordeaux, 非，不，無 of whose

"You should 説得する your friends to be punctual," said the aunt, and there was no gentleness in that rebuke. Mr. Ricardo had been startled and shocked. Here was a third riddle to surprise him. He remembered Mrs. Tasborough as the most submissive of 年金d relations, a chaperon who knew that her 義務s did not 含む 干渉，妨害, a silent symbol of respectability. Yet here she was 干渉するing and talking with all the 当局 in the world. No いっそう少なく surprising was Diana's meekness in reply.

"Robbed!" Joyce Whipple cried in a most curious 発言する／表明する. There was 狼狽 in it, but not surprise. The 強盗 was 予期しない, and yet, now that it had happened, not ありそうもない.

"Yes, mademoiselle. A sacrilege!" and the little man threw up his 手渡すs.

"My church has been robbed. It is a sacrilege!"

"You shall tell us about it at the dinner-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する," said Mrs. Tasborough, cutting him short. Mrs. Tasborough was a Protestant. At home she sat under a man who preached in a Geneva gown. The 強盗 of a Roman カトリック教徒 church was to her a very minor

The 残り／休憩（する） of that evening passed 明らかに as uneventfully as most evenings pass in country houses. But Mr. Ricardo, whose faculty of 観察 was 重要なd up to a 詐欺師 pitch than usual, did notice during the course of it some things which were

"It is unbelievable!" the old man cried. "They were of value, to be sure. My dear Madame de Fontanges, now dead, 現在のd them to the church. But they must be 削減（する） up at once and then their value is gone. Who would commit a sacrilege for so small a 伸び（る）?"

"You have, of course, 知らせるd the police," said the Vicomte de Mirandol.

"But understand, Monsieur Le Vicomte, that it is only within the hour that I discovered my loss. You would all realize" —and a twinkle of humour lit up his 直面する—"if you were not all heathens, as you are, that tomorrow is the feast of Saint Matthew, a most sacred day in the Calendar of the Church. I went to the sacristy to 保証する myself that those 衣料品s of high 尊敬（する）・点 were in order, and they are gone. However, Madame Tasborough, I must not spoil your evening with too much of my misfortune," and he swerved off into an amusing dissection of the foibles of his parishioners.

A small interruption brought him in a moment or two to so abrupt a stop that all 注目する，もくろむs were turned on the interrupters. Mrs. Devenish was the 原因（となる） of the interruption. She had been taking no part in any of the conversation, beyond answering at 無作為の when she was 演説（する）／住所d, and sat 占領するd by some secret thought of her own. But once she shivered, and so violently that the little 泡ing cry which people will utter involuntarily when they are 氷点の, broke from her lips. The sound 解任するd her to her 環境, and she ちらりと見ることd guiltily across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. Her 注目する，もくろむs 遭遇（する）d Joyce Whipple's, and Joyce suddenly exclaimed in a queer, sharp, high-pitched 発言する／表明する:

"It's no use 非難するing me, Evelyn. It's not I who dispense the 冷淡な," and then she caught herself up too late, her 直面する 紅潮／摘発するd quicker than Mr. Ricardo to notice it. His 注目する，もくろむs darted 速く to Evelyn Devenish, and from her to Joyce Whipple. His 直面する, in spite of the long, drooping nose and the 厚い jaw, became 警報 and birdlike.

"So, mademoiselle," he said slowly to Joyce, "it is not you who dispense the 冷淡な. Who, then?"

He did not 主張する upon an answer, but a moment or two later, when, as if to cover Joyce Whipple's 混乱, the chatter in her neighbourhood broke out afresh, Mr. Ricardo noticed that almost imperceptibly he made the 調印する of the Cross upon his breast.

So far Mr. Ricardo was little more than curious and excited. But a ４半期/4分の1 of an hour afterwards he caught a momentary glimpse of passion which shook him from its sheer ferocity. The men had retired from the dinner-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with the ladies, in the French fashion, and had 分裂（する） up into little groups. Joyce Whipple was sitting in a low 議長，司会を務める at the 味方する of the hearth, her 膝s crossed and one slender foot in its silver slipper swinging window in a group with Diana and the two young Frenchmen. Suddenly from that group sprang a phrase which was heard all over the room.

"The 洞穴 of the Mummies."

It was one of the Frenchmen who uttered it, but Evelyn Devenish took it up. The 洞穴 of the Mummies is a famous show-place of Bordeaux. Under the 急に上がるing tower of St. Michel in the open square in 前線 of the church there is an 地下組織の cavern where 団体／死体s, mummified by some rare 質 of the earth old woman showing off the points of her 展示（する）s by the light of a candle!" He shrugged his shoulders with disgust and looked at Joyce Whipple. "Now I, too, mademoiselle—yes, now I, too, feel the 冷淡な."

Evelyn Devenish laughed. "Yet we all go to that spectacle, for the bizarre was always at 半端物s with his respectability.

"It is true," he said lamely, 転換ing his 負わせる from one foot on to the other. "I had heard so much of it—I had so often passed through Bordeaux without seeing it. But now that I unpleasant young woman," said Mr. Ricardo to himself, "bold and without 尊敬（する）・点." He was relieved when she 回避するd her 注目する，もくろむs from him. But he 観察するd that they travelled slowly 一連の会議、交渉／完成する until they reached Joyce Whipple, and there for a moment they stayed, half hidden by the eyelids; but not hidden enough to 隠す the 憎悪 which grew slowly from a 誘発する in the depths to a 炎 of devouring 解雇する／砲火／射撃. Mr. Ricardo had never seen in his life the 証拠 of a passion so raw. It was covetous to punish and 傷つける. The dark 注目する，もくろむs could not leave, it seemed, the girl radiant in her silvery frock. They 残り／休憩（する）d with a dreadful smile upon the foot swinging in its gleaming slipper and ran up the わずかな／ほっそりした 脚 in its silken sheath to the bent 膝. Mr. Ricardo understood by a flash of insight the cruel thought behind the 注目する，もくろむs and the smile. "Oh, certainly, it would have to be to tea and not to supper," he said to himself, almost in an agony as he thought of that imaginary meal alone with Evelyn Devenish which his 恐れるs had conjured up.

So far, then, Mr. Ricardo had undoubtedly earned some good 示すs, not so much for putting two and two together as for discerning that there might be two and two which would かもしれない want putting together afterwards. But at this hour, half-past nine by the clock, he 中止するd to be meritorious, and the most important circumstance of the whole evening 完全に escaped his 観察. He was really too much 占領するd in the 成果／努力 to 生き返らせる his recollections of whist; which was made even more difficult by the 活動／戦闘 of the younger members of the party.

The dining-room, 製図／抽選-room and library of the Ch穰eau Suvlac were arranged in a 控訴, the 製図／抽選-room 存在 in the middle; and all of these rooms had windows to the ground 開始 upon the 幅の広い terrace. Diana, as soon as the 年上のs were seated at the card—（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, went into the library and 始める，決める a gramophone playing. Within the minute all the young people were dancing upon the terrace. The connecting door between the salon and the library was shut, it is true, but the night was warm and all the windows stood open. So the music with its pleasant lilt floated in to the card players, and joined with the rhythmical scuffle of the dancing shoes upon the 旗s to distract Mr. Ricardo from his game. It was the time of moonlight, but the moon was obscured by a thin fleece of white clouds so that a pale silvery and rather unearthly light made the garden and the wide river beyond a fairyland of 魔法. On the far shore a light twinkled here and there through a もや, and の近くに at 手渡す, the long avenue of trees, now 黒人／ボイコット as イチイs and motionless as metal, 保護するd the terrace as though it was some secret and 古代の place of sacrifice. But instead of sacrifices, Mr. Ricardo saw the flash of white shoulders, the sparkling embroideries upon the light frocks of the girls, the ダンサーs appearing, disappearing, gliding, 回転するing, and altogether he made so many mistakes that his fellow players were delighted when the rubber （機の）カム to an end. コマドリ Webster （機の）カム in from the terrace. "You will excuse me, Mrs. Tasborough. The morning begins for me at daybreak, and I have still a few 準備s to make before I can go to bed."

"I too," said the Vicomte de Mirandol, rising from his 議長，司会を務める, a trifle 突然の perhaps. "The Mirandol ワイン will not compare with the Ch穰eau Suvlac, 式のs! Yet I must take just as much care of it." He looked out of the window rather anxiously. "A good にわか雨 or two, not too violent, just for a couple of hours during in the chalet beyond the avenue. It is my office too. You will find me there or about the ch臺s."

He went out through the window, Monsieur de Mirandol through the door to the 前線 of the house, where his car waited for him.

As he moved に向かって the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する Joyce Whipple stood in his way. "And I," she said, laughing, "since I know nothing of the proper 割合s, will in my ignorance put more whisky into your glass than you would."

Joyce Whipple, in a word, took 所有／入手 of the buffet. It their turn with beer and sirops and spirits, laughing gaily all the while, and 布告するing that she had a 未来 as a barmaid. Diana （機の）カム from the library and was the last to join the group.

"I shall have a brandy and soda with a lot of ice," she said, and again Mr. Ricardo was conscious of an unsteady 公式文書，認める in her 発言する／表明する, and a laugh which 脅すd to rise out of gaiety into hysteria.

Joyce threw a quick ちらりと見ること backwards over her shoulder.

"So, after all, I do dispense the 冷淡な," she cried, and in her 事例／患者, too, the words and the laughter on which they were 開始する，打ち上げるd were 辛勝する／優位d with excitement, and undoubtedly the glass which she held clattered against the siphon when she filled it, as though her 手渡すs trembled.

The party, however, was already breaking up and within a very few minutes the Ch穰eau Suvlac was silent and Mr. Ricardo 支援する in his own room. He opened both of the windows. When engaged upon the 味方する-window, he saw that a light was still 燃やすing in a room upon the ground 床に打ち倒す of the chalet. Mr. コマドリ Webster was still then at work in his office. Looking out from the 前線 window his gaze wandered over the 平和的な stretch of empty country. The white house upon the hill might have been 黒人／ボイコット for all that he could make of it. Not a window 微光d anywhere. Mr. Ricardo 負傷させる up his watch and went to bed. It was then ten minutes to eleven.

CHAPTER 5. — HANAUD REAPPEARS

MR. RICARDO was not the man to sleep comfortably in a strange bed, and though he did 落ちる asleep quickly, he awaked whilst it was still dark; and with a vague uneasiness. He reached up for the light-switch, which in his house in Grosvenor Square was 始める，決める into the 塀で囲む above his 長，率いる, and was disconcerted not to find it there. 徐々に, however, he remembered. He was not at home. He was at the Ch穰eau Suvlac, and discovering the 原因（となる） of his uneasiness in the unfamiliar 環境, his uneasiness itself 出発／死d. But he was now 完全に awake.

He had his own 治療（薬）s for this mischance. Sheep were of no use to him. He had counted most of the sheep upon the South 負かす／撃墜するs upon an unhappy night, but having 行方不明になるd one he had been 軍隊d to go 支援する and count them all over again; and his annoyance at his carelessness had kept him awake till morning. His better 計画（する） was to throw open his curtains and raise his blinds, and the inrush of fresh 空気／公表する through the open windows as a 支配する quickly sent him off. He tried this cure now.

First of all he turned on his 病人の枕元 lamp and looked at his watch. It was a few minutes before two o'clock in the morning. Then he rose from his bed and 解放する／自由なd the 味方する-window from all its coverings. He noticed that a light was still 燃やすing even at that late hour in the chalet beyond the avenue, but it was now upon the first 床に打ち倒す and not in the office.

"Mr. Webster has finished his work and is now going to bed," he 反映するd with a warm 是認 of the young man's 産業.

The next moment 保証するd him that his judgment was 訂正する. For whilst he looked, the light flickered and went out. Mr. Ricardo wished the 経営者／支配人 a deeper repose than he was enjoying himself, and passed on to his 前線 window.

He threw the curtains wide open with a 動揺させる of （犯罪の）一味s, and 負傷させる the blind up with its roller. The country was spread wide in 前線 of him upon this 味方する, and the 空気／公表する fresher. The moon had 始める，決める, leaving the night dark and （疑いを）晴らす and the sky gemmed with 星／主役にするs. But it was not the coolness of the 空気／公表する nor the 炎 above his 長，率いる which kept Mr. Ricardo standing in so 直す／買収する，八百長をするd an 態度. When he had taken his last look from this window before getting into bed more than three hours ago, not one light had been 燃やすing in the white house upon the hill. Now the long 範囲 of windows was 燃えて from end to end, 向こうずねing （疑いを）晴らす in little oblongs of light where the 前線 of the house was in 十分な 見解（をとる）, and throwing the trees into 救済 at the two ends. The building was illuminated like a palace.

"Now, what is the meaning of that?" Mr. Ricardo was asking himself. "Who in a country 地区 would start the evening at so late an hour? It is very, very 半端物."

No answer 存在 来たるべき, and his feet growing 冷淡な upon the polished boards of the 床に打ち倒す, he retired to his bed and turned out his lamp. But his curiosity was 完全に roused. From his position upon his pillows, he could see that golden blur upon the 不明瞭. He could not but see it, he could not but think of it.

"This will never do," he said to himself. "I must try recipe number two."

Recipe number two was a 調書をとる／予約する. But it must be read for itself, not as the gateway of dreams. If you put the thought of sleep altogether out of your mind and settled 負かす／撃墜する to your 容積／容量, presto! the trick was done. You are aware suddenly of 幅の広い daylight, a cup of tea by your 病人の枕元 and a lamp extravagantly 燃やすing. Mr. Ricardo's trouble was that he hadn't a 調書をとる／予約する in his room. Very 井戸／弁護士席 then, he must go to the library and take one. So on went his light again. He got out of bed and into his pumps, draped his form in a Japanese dressing-gown of flowered silk, and with a box of matches in his 手渡す stole oft along the 回廊（地帯）s. He knew their 地理学 by now, and one match took him to the dining-room door. The French windows of the three rooms en 控訴 were undraped. He passed therefore through that room and the salon and into the library without having to strike a second match. He remembered that there was a light-switch in the library, の近くに to the long window and just within the door. He was feeling for it when something dark on the terrace outside flicked past the panes and 消えるd. Mr. Ricardo was so startled that he dropped his box of matches on the 床に打ち倒す. He stood in the dark, with his heart 続けざまに猛撃するing noisily in his breast, not daring to move. And in the silence, even above the clamour of his heart, he heard a 重要な grate in the lock.

The truth must be told. Mr. Ricardo's 即座の impulse was precipitately to retire. But with an 成果／努力 he 拒絶するd it as unworthy. The thought of the long 回廊（地帯）, too, through which he must return, daunted him. He stood his ground, and in a little while the ぱたぱたするing of panic 沈下するd. He was his own man again; and 存在 so he could not leave things as they were, select a 調書をとる／予約する and go 静かに 支援する to his bed. For the prospect of an adventure never failed to thrill him.

He opened the long window very 慎重に and stepped out on to the pavement of the terrace. Far away a 星／主役にする beam trembled on the water of Gironde. の近くに to him upon his left the 事業／計画（する）ing 一連の会議、交渉／完成する of the turret ぼんやり現れるd 大部分は, and from the 前線 of it some rays of light streamed out. Mr. Ricardo moved 慎重に 今後 from the angle made by the turret and the house 塀で囲む; the light slipped out at the 辛勝する／優位s of a curtain drawn across a long window in the 前線 of the turret. Someone was awake in the room behind the window. Someone had slid with the swiftness of a snake into that room and turned a 重要な. Mr. Ricardo was in 疑問 what to do. He had heard of strange doings in country houses, even in England. How much more must he 推定する／予想する them in the gay atmosphere of フラン!

"I certainly don't want to butt into the middle of some 高度に illicit 事件／事情／状勢," he argued. "On the other 手渡す, who knows what trouble may be occurring behind that curtained door? A sudden illness perhaps! Perhaps a 罪，犯罪! At the worst I can be sent about my 商売／仕事. At the best I may be of help."

Thus he stood and 論争d. But his romantic disposition got the upper 手渡す. He 前進するd and rapped gently upon the 枠組み of the glass door; and at once the light went out. But with a 速度(を上げる） so instantaneous that the knock upon the door and the 絶滅 of the light seemed to be not so much two 連続した movements as two facets of the same one.

Mr. Ricardo had the most uncomfortable sensations. Someone in that room had heard the sound of his pumps upon the 石／投石する 厚板s of the terrace. That someone had been ever since half 推定する／予想するing and wholly dreading that he would knock upon the window, had been ready then with ears 警報 and fingers 現実に on the switch. But who? Mr. Ricardo's 注目する，もくろむs could not pierce those curtains; nor had he the least excuse to 新たにする his signal. He retired 慎重に to his room without troubling to select a 調書をとる／予約する from the library at all. There he watched one by one the windows on the hill recede into the night. But whether the emotions through which he had passed were the 原因（となる）, or the mere movement and fresh 空気／公表する, he fell at once into a 激しい sleep, and never stirred until the morning.

Indeed, although he dressed with the 最大の 探検隊／遠征隊 that he was 有能な of, it was after ten o'clock before he was equipped to leave his room. The vineyards were alive with the stooping 人物／姿／数字s of 小作農民s stripping the 工場／植物s, the house itself as empty as on his arrival yesterday. Mr. Ricardo walked to the chalet. The office opened 直接／まっすぐに on to the little flower garden, but that was empty too. He crossed some rough grass to the line of ch臺s. The grapes were 存在 brought to the door in little 手渡す-carts, and thence carried to the ワイン-圧力（をかける）s above the vats. コマドリ Webster was standing in the 広大な／多数の／重要な room on the first 床に打ち倒す, watching the 圧力（をかける） move backwards and 今後s on its rollers. He looked up at Mr. Ricardo with a smile and 延長するd his left 手渡す, which Mr. Ricardo took, or rather touched, a trifle haughtily. For he was punctilious in such 事柄s. He might be nobody of importance, but youngish 経営者／支配人s of vineyards must not behave to him as if they were dukes and he a hireling.

"You must excuse my left 手渡す," said コマドリ Webster the next moment. "You see?"

His 権利 手渡す was inside his 二塁打-breasted jacket, the wrist 残り／休憩（する）ing upon one of the buttons. He drew the 手渡す out and showed that it was 包帯d.

"I did you an 不正," said Mr. Ricardo.

"So I saw," コマドリ Webster replied with a smile.

"You are 不正に 傷つける?"

"A trifle. I （機の）カム here 早期に this morning, before anyone was about, to make sure that everything was ready, and as I tried the 圧力（をかける） I caught my 手渡す in it. But it is not a 負傷させる which needs a doctor."

Once more the curiously 正確な articulation of the young man struck Mr. Ricardo as familiar, and yet he could not define it.

"You were up before everyone, then. You had little sleep last night," he said.

コマドリ Webster watched the 広大な／多数の／重要な 厚板 of アイロンをかける move backwards and 今後s on its rollers, 鎮圧するing the grapes beneath it. "Do you know we are the only vineyard which uses machine-driven 圧力（をかける）s?" he said. "Yes, I was late last night. No 疑問 you saw the light in my office when you went to bed."

"And hours afterwards I saw the light in your bedroom," said Mr. Ricardo.

Once more the 圧力（をかける） rumbled backwards and 今後s. "It must have been nearly two o'clock in the morning when I put it out," コマドリ Webster 発言／述べるd.

"It was two o'clock to the minute," said Mr. Ricardo.

He strolled away and spent a pleasant morning wandering about the three hundred and fifty acres of the 広い地所. It was a day of 有望な 日光, with （土地などの）細長い一片s of white cloud streaming out here and there in the blue of the sky. The 幅の広い water of the Gironde was dotted with sailing ships at 錨，総合司会者 waiting the turn of the tide to carry them to the river's mouth, and every now and then a steamer with a fantail of 宙返り／暴落するd 泡，激怒すること and a distant throb of engines 急ぐd past に向かって the port of Bordeaux. Mr. Ricardo wandered 負かす／撃墜する to the little harbour. It was empty and that was やめる as it should be. The Belle Simone had sailed with the inward tide at six in the morning. No 疑問 she was now 近づくing Bordeaux. But as he turned away he had a flash of a 疑惑 that she was doing nothing of the 肉親，親類d. For sailing merrily 上向きs from the lower reaches of the river a gabare was at that moment passing the garden with the sunlight upon her 屈服するs; and she was 近づく enough to the bank for him to see that one word of her 指名する stood out in a brilliant 救済 upon the grimed 木材／素質. He was puzzled. Of course, he argued, the Belle Simone might not be the only boat upon the river which followed the practice of her sex and changed her 指名する. And yet—! Nothing was too trivial for Mr. Ricardo's 憶測s. In a twinkling he scuttled 支援する to the house; in another he was 支援する again with his expensive field-glasses 解除するd to his 注目する，もくろむs. The gabare was just opposite to him now. He could read the glistening 指名する Simone, and there were other words in 前線 of it too discoloured for him to make out. Undoubtedly this was La Belle Simone, whose captain had been in such a pother yesterday because he could not start for Bordeaux until six in the morning. Yet he had put out before the turn of the tide and gone 負かす／撃墜する with the ebb. What 予期しない （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 had taken him out in the dead of night?

"It is all very 半端物," Mr. Ricardo 反映するd for the twentieth time since he had arrived at the Ch穰eau Suvlac. But the oddest thing of all was to happen to him now.

He went to his room, washed, and 小衝突d his hair. 昼食 was 直す／買収する，八百長をするd for half-past twelve. There were still twelve minutes. He walked 負かす／撃墜する the avenue, and as he returned he heard a 自動車 approaching the 前線 of the house. He 機動力のある on to the terrace and was joined there by コマドリ Webster. Both men, thereupon, entered the 製図／抽選-room by the window. Mrs. Tasborough, seated on her 王位, was ちらりと見ることing through the newspaper from Bordeaux which had just arrived. Diana at the centre （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, with a tray of glasses in 前線 of her, was vigorously shaking cocktails. At that moment the door 開始 on to the hall was flung open, and Jules Amad馥, with his 注目する，もくろむs starting out of his 長，率いる, broke into the room.

"Madame!" he cried, and again "Madame!" and then a 静かな 手渡す 押し進めるd him aside.

A small, square man dressed in a morning coat, with a tricolour sash about his waist and a bowler hat in his 手渡す, stepped 今後 and 屈服するd.

"Messieurs, Mesdames, I am Herbesthal, the Commissaire of Police. I beg of you as yet not to 苦しめる yourselves."

"Messieurs, Mesdames, I am Herbesthal, the Commissaire of
Police. I beg of you as yet not to 苦しめる yourselves."

Spoken in the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な, 冷静な／正味の 発言する／表明する of the Commissaire, no beginning could have been more ominous. Yet it was not that which made Mr. Ricardo utter a little shrill cry. To his stupefaction, through the doorway he saw standing in the hall the burly 人物／姿／数字 of Hanaud. Only a few days ago he had left the 視察官 sunning himself at Aix and practising his deplorable humour upon his friends. Now he was here at the Ch穰eau Suvlac—on 商売／仕事. His smoothed-out expressionless 直面する was 十分な 証拠 of that. Hanaud could see Mr. Ricardo やめる 明確に, and yet gave him no 調印する of 承認. It was all very 井戸／弁護士席 for the Commissary Herbesthal to beg his audience not to 苦しめる itself. Mr. Ricardo knew better. Since Hanaud was here on 商売／仕事, someone was certainly going to 苦しめる himself very much. The Commissaire Herbesthal looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the room. He was 明白に relieved. He turned に向かって the door and Hanaud, in reply, stepped with his noiseless feet into the room. He, too, 屈服するd, but there was no 救済 明白な upon his 直面する.

"You see," said Herbesthal. "It is all a mistake. Nothing could be more 静める. It's not here that we must look!"

"容赦 me," Hanaud 反対するd. He 前進するd and 屈服するd again, rather ridiculously, Mr. Ricardo thought, to Mrs. Tasborough. "Madame, I think, does not drink the cocktails. She belongs to a more 整然とした world."

The old lady might have taken the words as a compliment, or as an unnecessary reflection on her age. She chose the latter 解釈／通訳. For she looked stonily at Hanaud and then turned to the Commissaire; "And, pray, who is this gentleman?"

Herbesthal was a little shocked. "Madame," he 抗議するd, "this gentleman is the famous Monsieur Hanaud of the Sur黎e G駭駻ale of Paris."

The 指名する meant nothing whatever to Mrs. Tasborough. It was known, however, to コマドリ Webster. Mr. Ricardo heard him draw in his breath はっきりと and ask in a wondering 発言する／表明する:

"What in the world does he want here?" and as Mr. Ricardo looked at him, he 追加するd with a laugh, "Whenever I find myself in the presence of the police, I begin to ask myself whether after all I have not committed some 罪，犯罪."

Hanaud 一方／合間 had not taken his 注目する，もくろむs from Mrs. Tasborough's 直面する.

"I ask if madame drinks the cocktails for a 推論する／理由," he said suavely. "There are five glasses upon the tray, and if madame 避けるs the cocktail, then two of her party are not yet here."

Mr. Ricardo just 解除するd his shoulders. This was his dear friend at his worst. He must show off. Everyone must applaud the acuteness of his 観察. A simple question—"Is the whole party 現在の?"—no, that would not do at all. Mr. Ricardo coined a phrase and 蓄える／店d it for 未来 use. Hanaud must be on the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. Diana was no more impressed than Mr. Ricardo. She gave her cocktail mixer such a shaking that the ice 動揺させるd within it like a handful of pebbles.

"That is so," she answered. "Two of the house-party are absent, but it is not yet a 罪，犯罪 to be late for 昼食. No 疑問 in time we shall have 視察官s to look after these things."

"Mademoiselle," the Commissaire interrupted 静かに. "This is not the moment for amusement. I beg you to remember that there are two parties to a 罪，犯罪. The 犯罪の and the 犠牲者."

Up to this moment, the two women had been 性質の／したい気がして 単に to resent the visit of the police as an 侵入占拠 upon their privacy. But the Commissaire's words were too disquieting to be taken lightly. Mrs. Tasborough uttered a little cry of 恐れる and sank 支援する in her 議長，司会を務める, her tiny sceptre of 当局 struck out of her しっかり掴む in a second. Diana was paralysed. She stood with the cocktail mixer still uplifted in her 手渡す, her 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd in horror upon Hanaud, and the 血 receded slowly from her 直面する until her very lips were white.

"A 犠牲者?" she repeated in a shaking 発言する／表明する.

"Let us not be too quick to assume that trouble has visited this house," said Hanaud compassionately. "There are two absentees—"

"Evelyn Devenish—" Diana began.

"A lady?" asked Hanaud.

"Yes."

"And the other?"

"Joyce Whipple."

Hanaud started ever so わずかに. His 注目する，もくろむs did not 捜し出す Ricardo's, but he remained silent for a time. And his silence was more noticeable than his movement had been.

"You know that young lady?" コマドリ Webster asked quickly, and Hanaud looked at him curiously, as though he wondered why the question was put.

"No, monsieur. I have not that good fortune," he replied. "This gentleman is—?"

"Mr. コマドリ Webster, my 経営者／支配人," Diana explained.

Hanaud nodded his 長，率いる and 屈服するd with a smile to コマドリ Webster.

"Now! Has anyone in this room seen either of these two ladies this morning?"

At once Webster, Mr. Ricardo, Diana, even Mrs. Tasborough, began to look quickly and anxiously at each other.

"Have you?"

"No!"

"And you?"

"No!"

No one had seen either of them; and on every 直面する 苦悩 suddenly 深くするd into alarm.

"Of course we have been all very busy this morning," said Diana hurriedly. She had the 空気／公表する of one trying to 納得させる herself that there were no real grounds for 逮捕. "This is the first day of our vintage, and there has been, in consequence, an unusual bustle. The house is awake 早期に, the service disarranged."

"I understand that very 井戸／弁護士席," said Hanaud. "It may 井戸／弁護士席 be that your two friends are still amongst your vines. It is known that young ladies will 追求する a new pastime with an enthusiasm which 軽蔑（する）s the hours of meals. But they will hardly have left the house, bent upon so arduous a morning, without taking first their little breakfast."

Diana Tasborough crossed the room at once and rang the bell. Jules Amad馥 answered it with a 怪しげな celerity.

"Will you send Marianne to me?" Diana 命令（する）d; and Jules Amad馥 disappeared.

"Aha! He listens at the door, that one," said Hanaud with a grin. "Yet so do we all—each in our different way. We 緊張する our ears for the little 私的な conversation a few feet away. I, Hanaud, if I see an open letter on a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, I must read it, if I can manoeuvre myself 近づく enough. No, let us not 非難する Jules Amad馥!"

He spoke lightly, and because of his very lightness Mr. Ricardo's heart lost a （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域. Both Hanaud and the Commissaire were too eager in their 激励s, too delicate in their approach, to leave him in any 疑問 that they were 隠すing to the very last possible moment some unutterable horror.

"Marianne is your housemaid, I suppose," said Hanaud.

Mr. Ricardo 反映するd how curious it was that in a 危機 the truth of things should 布告する itself so 自然に that not a soul was surprised by the most sudden of changes. Hanaud 演説（する）／住所d himself now altogether to Diana. Mrs. Tasborough with her little けん責（する），戒告s and （民事の）告訴s was no longer of any account どれでも. She did not even resent her dethronement. Diana, yesterday the dutiful 区, was now the unquestioned mistress and ch穰elaine.

"Marianne is everything, Monsieur Hanaud," Diana answered with the 微光 of a smile, "as only a Frenchwoman can be. She is the wife of Jules Amad馥, and since for the 広大な／多数の／重要な part of the year the ch穰eau is empty, they are the only 永久の servants we have. During this month or two she gets some 援助 from the village, but very reluctantly, and hates everybody she engages and would never let any one of them approach her patrons or any of their guests."

Hanaud 屈服するd and smiled in the friendliest way. "Ah, mademoiselle, if everyone whom I ask to help me could sketch for me a character with such （疑いを）晴らす lines, I could have six months' holiday a year and yet do all the work it takes me twelve months to do."

Compliments and compliments! When would these petty trappings be torn aside and the 粉々にするing facts be 公表する／暴露するd? A sound of 激しい shoes clattering along the polished 回廊（地帯） was heard and Marianne marched into the room, 反抗 in every stubborn line of her. She was a woman of middle age with a 十分な, freshly coloured 直面する. She turned her 支援する upon Hanaud and the Commissaire Herbesthal. No one could 疑問 that Jules Amad馥 had primed her with all he had learnt by his eavesdropping.

"Mademoiselle wants me?" she asked.

"Yes, Marianne. At what time this morning did you take their coffee to Mrs. Devenish and 行方不明になる Whipple?" Diana asked.

"At seven o'clock," Marianne answered.

"They were both in their rooms?"

"See, mademoiselle! This is a special day, isn't it? People are up and about 早期に. Madame Devenish was already out of doors."

"And 行方不明になる Whipple?"

"That was a different thing. There was a notice pinned on that young lady's door that she had not slept 井戸／弁護士席 and did not wish to be 乱すd. So I carried her coffee away, meaning to make some hot and fresh for her when she rang for it."

"And has she rung?"

The question was asked gently enough, but Marianne was deaf to it. She neither turned nor looked in Hanaud's direction. He repeated it 根気よく; and suddenly Marianne's 直面する grew crimson, and crossing her 武器 upon her breast, she cried out in a sort of angry screech:

"Look, mademoiselle! I don't know what the police are doing in this house. What 事件／事情／状勢 is it of theirs, if one young lady gets up earlier than usual and another has a migraine? Let them go away and find the poor cure's stolen vestments! Aha! They will be at last of a 公共事業（料金）／有用性."

"I ask you if 行方不明になる Whipple has yet rung her bell?" Hanaud repeated.

"And I, by my silences, have replied that I do not answer monsieur's questions," said Marianne.

"That won't do, Marianne," Diana rebuked her gently. "You must answer monsieur."

Marianne turned sullenly に向かって Hanaud.

"井戸／弁護士席 then, she has not rung," and Marianne broke out again in exasperation: "But—Saperlipopette—what questions to be asking when mademoiselle's 昼食 is all frizzling away to cinders—"

"And I ask you another question," Hanaud interrupted with 当局 now rather than patience （犯罪の）一味ing in his 発言する／表明する. "Had the bed of Madame Devenish been slept in?"

The question took all who were in the room aback, and no one more so than Marianne. She looked at Hanaud with a little 尊敬（する）・点. She replied in a humbler 発言する／表明する.

"See, monsieur! As I have told you already, this is a busy day for everyone. It is very likely that Madame Devenish thought of it, knowing what idle good-for-nothings all the young girls are today. She may 井戸／弁護士席 have said: 'Ah, that poor Marianne, today I must help her.'"

"Which means that the bed had not been slept in," Hanaud 主張するd.

"No, monsieur, it does not," cried Marianne, beginning to get red again. "It means that when I went into her room this morning the bed was made."

Hanaud 受託するd the 是正 meekly, but to Mr. Ricardo's thinking no one who was at all 熟知させるd with Evelyn Devenish could agree with Marianne's explanation for a moment. Evelyn Devenish was not the 肉親，親類d of person to give a thought as to whether Marianne's fingers were worked to the bone or not. Nor could he imagine her springing out of her bed in the 早期に morning to help the 小作農民s to （土地などの）細長い一片 the grapes. The story was altogether too thin.

"It is enough, I think, that the bed was made," said Hanaud. He was very 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な, very 気が進まない to speak more 率直に. He looked at Herbesthal, and Herbesthal, with an inclination of the 長，率いる, returned the look.

"Yes," he said. "Yes. The 罰金 feelings—we cannot all the time consider them. I give you the word, Monsieur Hanaud!"

The Commissaire, 治安判事 though he was, was happy to 支払う／賃金 deference to the 広大な／多数の／重要な man from Paris.

Diana made a restless movement. She was not only 苦しめるd; she was puzzled too.

"I beg you not to keep us in suspense," she cried nervously. "Suspense is worse than the worst of news."

Even then for a moment Hanaud hesitated. He was uneasy. It seemed that he had a premonition that he was now 存在 definitely committed to an 調査 which would open up a 炭坑，オーケストラ席 of monstrous iniquity from which even he shrank 支援する.

"Very 井戸／弁護士席," he said at length. "At seven o'clock this morning a large dress-basket was seen floating up the Gironde on the flow of the tide by two boys belonging to the village of St. Yzans-d'Houlette, Albert Cordeau, 老年の fourteen, and Charles ツバメ, 老年の thirteen and five months. The village of St. Yzans-d'Houlette lies on the same bank as the Ch穰eau Suvlac, but six miles nearer to the mouth of the river. These 詳細（に述べる）s are important. The dress-basket was carried by a 現在の nearer and nearer to the shore, and the tide running then very slowly, the two boys were easily able to keep up with it. It grounded gently in a tiny bay in a lonely reach half a mile from the village. There were the low slope of grass bank, a （土地などの）細長い一片 of meadow, a hedge of brambles behind the meadow, and the village a hundred yards behind that. The two boys dragged the basket out of the water with difficulty. For it was almost too 激しい for their strength. They 設立する that it was fastened securely with a 厚い rope, and that 大（公）使館員d to the rope at the 底（に届く） of the basket was a fragment of a small-meshed 逮捕する—a 悪意のある little circumstance, For it looked as if a 負わせる ーするつもりであるd to 沈む the basket had 証明するd too 激しい for the 逮捕する and had torn itself 解放する／自由な. The boys, excited at this 発見, sawed through the rope with a pocket-knife and, raising the lid, were horrified to see a 団体／死体 wrapped in a piece of 罰金 linen. They 解除するd the 辛勝する／優位 of the linen, and 設立する a girl stark naked, with the 膝s drawn up に向かって her chin. They were too 脅すd to make any closer examination. They 取って代わるd the linen, and whilst one, Charles ツバメ, ran to St. Yzans-d'Houlette with the news, Albert Cordeau の近くにd the basket and remained on guard beside it. The 団体／死体 still 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd inside the basket was then taken to the 霊安室 at Villeblanche." He について言及するd the little town which was the seat of the 地元の 行政. "It happens," he 再開するd, "that I was at Bordeaux engaged upon some troublesome 商売／仕事, of which this 事件／事情／状勢 of the basket may, or may not, be a 開発." Hanaud at this point received such a glare of reproach from Mr. Ricardo that he was at 苦痛s to 軟化する 負かす／撃墜する his neglect of his friend's neighbourhood.

The boys were too 脅すd to make any closer examination.

"商売／仕事, I should 追加する, which forbids me 捜し出すing advice, however 価値のある." And he had the satisfaction of seeing Mr. Ricardo's self-esteem 回復するd. "Monsieur Herbesthal did me the honour over the telephone to 知らせる me of this 発見 and to 招待する my help. The 医療の officer, the Doctor Brune, made his examination in our presence. The 団体／死体 is that of a young lady, careful, even fastidiously careful, of her beauty and 外見. There is no mistaking the 証拠 of a 手渡す in a 事柄 of this 肉親，親類d. But everything—the delicate whiteness of her 肌, the gloss of her hair—示すd that she was one who had the time and the inclination to give to herself the most meticulous attention."

"She was dead?" Diana interrupted in a low 発言する／表明する.

"によれば the Doctor Brune, she had been dead for some six hours."

"溺死するd? In that basket? Horrible!" said Diana, and with a shudder she suddenly 圧力（をかける）d her 手渡すs over her 直面する.

"No, mademoiselle, not 溺死するd," Hanaud answered. "She had been stabbed through the heart. There was no 示す of 苦痛 upon her 直面する, nor any contortion of 恐れる. She cannot have known what was happening, so 完全に was she at peace;" and having thrown all the 強調 of which he was master into those consoling words, he went on slowly: "But there is one perplexing and dreadful 詳細（に述べる） in this 罪，犯罪. For 罪，犯罪, of course, it is. After she was dead, her 権利 手渡す had been 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスd off at the wrist."

A wave of horror swept over everyone in that room. For what 目的 could mutilation have been 追加するd to 殺人? It spoke of a 憎悪 at once implacable and monstrous, a vengeance which sought to glut itself even beyond the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な. A cry broke from the trembling lips of Diana. Mrs. Tasborough was crying and moaning. コマドリ Webster, his 直面する troubled and disordered, exclaimed; "Why? In God's 指名する, why?" Mr. Ricardo alone was silent, with a horrid 恐れる growing in his mind. He sank 負かす／撃墜する into a 議長，司会を務める and sat and 星／主役にするd at the 床に打ち倒す.

一方／合間 Hanaud went on. "There was no 示す whatever by which this young 犠牲者 could be identified—not a bracelet on the wrist, not a chain about the neck—nothing. But Monsieur Herbesthal and the Doctor Brune thought it most likely that we should learn more at the Ch穰eau Suvlac, since it was the 支配する of mademoiselle to entertain a house-party for the vintage. So we （機の）カム here at once, and here we find that a guest is 行方不明の. I shall beg Mr. Ricardo, whom I know, to 運動 支援する with me to Villeblanche, and I shall hope, but without much 信用／信任, that he will not 認める her. Until he returns I must ask that 非，不，無 of you leaves the house."

Mr. Ricardo, however, did not reply. He sat still and 星／主役にするd at the 床に打ち倒す, as though he had not heard.

"You will come?" Hanaud 主張するd. "It is a thankless office, I know very 井戸／弁護士席."

Still Ricardo never spoke, never changed his 態度. コマドリ Webster's shoulders worked uncomfortably. Then he said reluctantly: "Of course, it is my 義務 more than anyone's."

Before he could say more, Hanaud interrupted. "No! I thank you, but it is Mr. Ricardo whom I want."

Then at last Mr. Ricardo 設立する a 発言する／表明する to speak with, though it was a dull one and toneless, and やめる unrecognizable as his own.

"Before I go," he said, still 星／主役にするing at the 床に打ち倒す, "I think that someone should 大打撃を与える at 行方不明になる Whipple's door and make very sure that she answers."

At once Mr. Ricardo became the cynosure of all that sad company; and for once he took no joy in his unusual position. But then the ちらりと見ることs directed at him were without any friendliness. No one had given a thought to Joyce Whipple during the last 緊張した minutes. Hanaud's story linked itself so closely with Evelyn Devenish's 見えなくなる that the 提案するd 旅行 to identify the 団体／死体 became the mere fulfilment of a 形式順守. Yet now suddenly here was a new suggestion, as vague as it was alarming.

"No—no!" Diana cried はっきりと. She was not so much …に反対するing Mr. Ricardo's 需要・要求する, as 辞退するing to 許す that yet another mystery should 追加する to the 拷問 of her 神経s.

"I think so," said Mr. Ricardo, never 解除するing his 注目する，もくろむs from the 床に打ち倒す, and his 半端物 態度 somehow 納得させるd everyone that he was 権利. Hanaud turned に向かって Marianne, who all this while had been standing apart, and nodded his 長，率いる. すぐに she went out of the room, leaving the door open, and no more words were spoken. Her shoes were heard （犯罪の）一味ing on a flight of 石／投石する steps a short distance away, and then a loud rapping on a door. In a dreadful suspense the assemblage in the 製図／抽選-room listened for the 開始 of the door, for the welcome sound of Joyce Whipple's （疑いを）晴らす 発言する／表明する. They heard only the rapping repeated, more insistently; and again there was no answer.

Mr. Ricardo 解除するd his 長，率いる now in a sort of listless bewilderment, and broke the silence.

"行方不明になる Whipple sleeps upstairs?"

"Yes," answered Diana.

In one of the two turret-rooms, then!

"And Mrs. Devenish?" he asked.

"In the wing opposite to yours."

"I see."

What window was it, then, which he had knocked upon at two o'clock that morning, behind which he had seen the light so furtively 消滅させるd? He was very soon to know. Marianne was heard to knock again, to cry out Joyce Whipple's 指名する; and then she （機の）カム clattering 支援する to the room, her bosom heaving, her 直面する distorted with 恐れる.

"Mademoiselle's door is locked, and there is no 重要な in the lock," she stammered.

Hanaud put a question to Diana: "Have you another 重要な to that door?"

"Any 重要な will open it. All the locks are upon one pattern."

"All of you, then, will stay here."

Hanaud whipped out of the room. They never heard his step upon the 石／投石する stairs, but they did distinctly hear the grinding of a 重要な as it 発射 支援する a bolt; and again there was silence. But for once silence became intolerable.

Monsieur Hanaud's step upon the stony stairs was not heard.

"Joyce! Joyce! Oh!"

The 指名する broke from コマドリ Webster's lips in a long-drawn little cry of utter 悲惨. It was an 控訴，上告 to her to answer, to appear in all her radiant 青年 in the 中央 of them, and an 表現 of a belief that she never would. Mr. Ricardo saw Diana slowly 解除する her 注目する，もくろむs to コマドリ Webster and let them dwell upon his twitching troubled 直面する with a curiously 意図 look; and in a moment Hanaud was 支援する again in the salon.

"Her room is empty," he said 厳粛に. "Her bedclothes were 宙返り／暴落するd and dragging on the 床に打ち倒す. But that had been done deliberately. Madame Devenish, Mademoiselle Whipple— neither of them slept in her bed at the Ch穰eau Suvlac last night."

Joyce's bedclothes were 宙返り／暴落するd and dragging on the 床に打ち倒す.

Suddenly his 直面する changed. "Wait! Wait!" he cried, and sprang 今後. He had seen Diana Tasborough sway like a sapling in a 勝利，勝つd. Her 直面する took on a sickly pallor. "It's horrible! Horrible!" she whispered. Hanaud was only in time to break her 落ちる. For she slipped through his 武器 and lay やめる still upon the 床に打ち倒す.

CHAPTER 6. — THE PICTURE ON THE WALL

HANAUD stooped, raised her shoulders, and finally stood 築く, 持つ／拘留するing her in his 武器 very tenderly, as though she were nothing more than a big baby.

"I was rough—yes, you shall reproach me," he said remorsefully. "In my profession, 式のs! one grows hard. One sees so much of the brute in man. However, I make what 修正するs I can was so 肉親，親類d and so human and so gentle up to the last grim moment when he towered, the avenger of broken 法律s. Mr. Ricardo, accordingly, felt the prickliest sensations running up and 負かす／撃墜する his spine when he saw his large friend 持つ／拘留するing the dainty slip of a girl within the 刑務所，拘置所 of his strong 武器. Was he a Samaritan or an animal of prey? A friend or a jailer?

Marianne, however, 心にいだくd 明白に 非，不，無 of Mr. Ricardo's 疑問s. She crossed at once to the windows and opened them wide.

"This, monsieur, is the nearest way, if you will be so amiable. The poor lamb! She has had enough for one day."

She stepped out on to the terrace with Hanaud upon her heels, and turned to the left past the windows of the library. It was Diana's room, then, which 屈服するd out upon the terrace in the lower story of the turret. It was upon her window that Mr. Ricardo had knocked. Mr. Ricardo hurried out after Hanaud in a 条件 of extreme bewilderment. So many questions rapped upon his brain for an answer, even as Marianne had rapped upon Joyce Whipple's door. Joyce Whipple had 占領するd the room above Diana's, and some time during the night Joyce Whipple had gone from her room and 消えるd. It was in her room, then, if in any room, that a light might be 推定する／予想するd to 燃やす at so ありそうもない an hour. And, after all, why had Diana made not the least smallest 調査 as to who it was that had come （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing upon her window in the dark of the morning? Had she, too, been away from the house last night?

Mr. Ricardo saw the tail of Hanaud's coat as he disappeared with his 重荷（を負わせる） between the glass doors of the turret-room. Mr. Ricardo was not very sure that he would be civilly 扱う／治療するd if he followed. But he 簡単に had to follow. He crept into the room timidly, just as Hanaud was gently lowering Diana upon her bed at the 支援する of the room; and he stood aside out of the light at once, making himself very small.

"A glass of water, Marianne," said Hanaud, straightening his shoulders. "There is no 広大な／多数の／重要な 害（を与える） done to mademoiselle, I think. Look, even now her eyelids are ぱたぱたするing."

Marianne hurried to the washstand and 注ぐd out a glass of water, whilst Hanaud stood by the 病人の枕元, his 注目する，もくろむs now looking 負かす／撃墜する upon Diana Tasborough, now 広範囲にわたる the room with a careless ちらりと見ること which Mr. Ricardo had long since learnt not to belittle. He gazed at the door of a wardrobe, at a mirror, at Mr. Ricardo, at the carpet and the 議長，司会を務めるs. But where his 注目する，もくろむs 残り／休憩（する）d, there as a 支配する there was nothing to see. Suddenly he dropped upon his 膝. Diana's lips were moving. But she only murmured:

"I was a fool!—Nothing happened—nothing —or I should remember." It seemed to Mr. Ricardo that Hanaud's 長，率いる went 今後, as though he were about to whisper some question in Diana's ear, in the hope that she would answer it, whilst still her mind was 薄暗い. But Marianne the next second was at his 味方する, and in the most natural manner he took the glass from her and held it to Diana's lips.

"So—so—That is better," he said, rising to his feet. He （機の）カム across to Mr. Ricardo. "You and I, my friend, we are not 手配中の，お尋ね者 here, 反して we are 手配中の，お尋ね者 at Villeblanche."

He took Ricardo by the arm and led him out again on to the terrace. But there was a change in him now. He was 静かに 警報, with a 有望な 尋問 glint in his 注目する，もくろむs, and an 半端物 little smile about his mouth.

"I tell you," he said in a low 発言する／表明する. "Very curious things have been happening in this house. 行方不明になる Whipple and her letters. I am thankful that I did not make light of her 恐れるs."

Mr. Ricardo raised his forefinger and 発表するd: "You saw something in that room."

"Yes. A bed, a young lady in a swoon, a servant, a glass of water."

"More than that."

Hanaud threw up his 武器. "I was there but for a few seconds. During those seconds I was 占領するd."

Mr. Ricardo shook his 長，率いる 厳しく. "That won't do for me, I'm afraid."

Hanaud gave in with a gesture of despair and a look of regretful 賞賛. "It is true. I, like this 行方不明になる Diana, 自白する that I was a fool. I should have known better. A secret! Ha, ha! 隠す it if you can! The cunning Mr. Ricardo is after it straight as the cock crows!"

Ricardo was in the habit of foolishly 訂正するing his friend's admirable English idioms, but preening himself upon this admission of his perspicacity, he 許すd the unfortunate form in which it was 表明するd to pass. Hanaud took him by the arm and led him out of everyone's 審理，公聴会 to the very 辛勝する／優位 of the terrace.

"Yes. I saw something in that room," he said in an important 発言する／表明する. "I shall tell you what it is. A little picture. It hangs upon the 塀で囲む above the bed. I saw it as I laid that poor young lady 負かす／撃墜する. You must look at it when you get the chance. You will see just what I saw. 一方／合間, however—" And he laid a finger meaningly upon his lips.

Mr. Ricardo was thrilled to his 骨髄 at 存在 made a participator in this mystery. "I shall not say a word about it," he said reassuringly, and Hanaud without a 疑問 was immensely relieved. He was turning away when now Mr. Ricardo caught him by the arm. "Before you continue your work," he said with a new but tiny touch of patronage in his 発言する／表明する—he was always anxious to reward one of Hanaud's rare 信用／信任s— "I must 警告する you. You betray yourself, I think, a little more than you used to. So far it is not very serious. But the defect will grow unless it is very carefully watched."

Hanaud was aghast. "I betray myself!"

"Twice this morning."

"It is （疑いを）晴らす, then." The 探偵，刑事 threw up his 武器 in despair. "Hanaud grows old. Twice! Twice in one morning you catch me 屈服するing."

"Bending," said Mr. Ricardo. "But, at the best, it is a vulgar phrase."

"Twice!"

"Yes."

"Once when I see the little picture on the 塀で囲む?"

"Yes."

"And the other time?"

"Earlier—in the 製図／抽選-room. Your 悔いるs that you had so terrible a story to tell, your compassion—on the whole they were very 井戸／弁護士席 done."

"Thank you," said Hanaud meekly. "賞賛する from Sir Herbert!"

"Hubert," said Mr. Ricardo. "Yes, they were 井戸／弁護士席 done up to a point. The point when you used one 残虐な word, and used it 残酷に, to 述べる the 厳しいd 手渡す."

All the mischief died out of Hanaud's 注目する，もくろむs. He looked at Ricardo in the oddest way; like some fencer when a despised antagonist slips through beneath his guard.

"Go on!" he said, and Mr. Ricardo was only too pleased to go on. "The sympathy, the gentle 悔恨 that your rough world of 罪，犯罪 must break in upon the elegance of that 製図／抽選-room —and then suddenly the 天然のまま word spoken violently, like a blow—'切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスd'. '切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスd off at the wrist'. My friend, you looked for some reaction—yes—some 限定された reaction from someone in that room."

Hanaud did not 収容する／認める the 意向. On the other 手渡す, he did not 否定する it. He 発言／述べるd rather sulkily: "If I did, I didn't get it. Come! It is high time that we went off to Villeblanche and identified this poor Madame Devenish. You have your car, no 疑問? Yes? Then you and I will go in it and we will leave the police car to Monsieur Herbesthal the Commissaire."

Yet once more during the passage of a morning, Mr. Ricardo was really to astonish the 探偵，刑事. "We will use my car by all means," he said slowly. "But I do not think that we shall identify Evelyn Devenish."

Hanaud's big でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる 強化するd—"Oho!" he murmured. "So that was it! Yes! It was you who 主張するd that 行方不明になる Joyce Whipple should be roused from her long sleep. Yes. From the moment when I finished my story, you were troubled by a 広大な／多数の／重要な 恐れる. Even I, Hanaud, who grow old, could 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる that. For that 推論する／理由 I wished to 運動 alone with you to Villeblanche. Yes! It is your little friend, the American, you 推定する／予想する to find in that 冷淡な 霊安室," and he shook his shoulders, as though the 冷気／寒がらせる of that place reached out and caught him here on the sunlit terrace. "Let us go! You shall tell me why you 恐れる this, as we go."

CHAPTER 7. — THE CAVE OF THE MUMMIES

The two men walked from that house of calamity 負かす／撃墜する the hill to the farm buildings and the garage; Hanaud lost in his own thoughts and Mr. Ricardo a little surprised to see the 小作農民s going about their daily 労働, and the world astir. "It seems somehow against nature," he said, and Hanaud woke from his reflections to reply: "After all, we may both of us be wrong. There are many houses along the Gironde." But it was （疑いを）晴らす that he put no 原子 of 約束 into his words, and as soon as the 広大な／多数の／重要な car was running 滑らかに on the white road between the vineyards, he turned briskly to his companion.

Mr. Ricardo began with some excuses. For he had at the 支援する of his mind a 疑惑 that his taste for what was 半端物 and bizarre was not altogether seemly in a man of his 熟した years and honourable 条件. But he had to come to the 洞穴 of the Mummies in the end.

"I had always meant to see it," he cried in an honest burst, "and ten days ago I did."

He 述べるd how he walked to the high tower of St. Michel opposite to the doors of the church in a 広大な／多数の／重要な square. At the foot of the tower he 設立する a 支払う／賃金-box, which was の近くにd, and by the 味方する of it a winding staircase descending into 不明瞭. He peered 負かす／撃墜する the staircase and from the 不明瞭, but surprisingly 近づく to him, a woman's high 発言する／表明する cried out: "Descend then, monsieur! You shall 支払う／賃金 me afterwards. I am about to begin."

He obeyed, feeling for the steps with his feet and for the 味方する 塀で囲むs with his 手渡す. There were only a few treads to that old brick stairway, but it 新たな展開d, and with his 支援する to the daylight he could see nothing at all.

"One more step, monsieur. So!"

He was taken by the 肘 and guided for a few steps to his left. The woman, with the thrift of her 肉親，親類d, did not light her tallow 下落する to illumine her gruesome 展示 until she had gathered her little flock of sightseers at the point of 出発. Mr. Ricardo was ばく然と aware that he stood on the 辛勝する／優位 of a group. He had a sensation, too, of 巨大な space. But when the match was struck, and the red, smoky 炎上 of the cheap candle held aloft, he saw that the cabin was a tiny rough 穴掘り. It was too dark still for him to distinguish anything of the 残り／休憩（する） of the party, except that they were of both the sexes. But the light shone upon the 直面する of the guide, and he was as disappointed by her 外見 as he had been by the cavern's tininess. He had 推定する／予想するd an old, witch-like crone. He beheld a practical, apple-直面するd, middle-老年の woman of the most respectable mien with a 黒人／ボイコット shawl about her shoulders.

She passed within an アイロンをかける rail which guarded the line of her grim 展示（する）s, and 配達するd her 予選 lecture. There were mummies, of course, in Egypt, but 非，不，無 of them, from Tutankhamen downwards, were a patch upon hers. Egypt's mummies were the work of men, stuffed and cured like animals for the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. Hers were the only real natural mummies in the world, and a glory to the 広大な／多数の／重要な city of Bordeaux.

"Gentlemen, ladies, they were 設立する, just as you will see them, in an 古代の graveyard of the city の近くに to this 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. A 化学製品 成分 of the 国／地域, which is nowhere else known to 存在する, has 保存するd them. Attention, gentlemen! Ladies!"

Mr. Ricardo's 注目する，もくろむs were popping out of his 長，率いる in his 成果／努力 to see over the shoulders of the happy people who had got the 前線 places. The curator of this queer museum passed slowly along the line of the dead people propped up on an eternal parade. They stood with loincloths about their waists, their 肌 greenish in colour and of the texture of parchment. The blackened tatters of their 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な-着せる／賦与するs still hung to them; wisps of matted hair dangled from their skulls, and here and there a 抱擁する glaucous 注目する，もくろむ still 星／主役にするd at them from its socket. The guide raised and lowered her candle, pointing out this or that noticeable 詳細（に述べる）; and the red light, wavering unsteadily over the dead 人物／姿／数字s, gave to them an eerie 外見 of life and movement.

"Here is a woman with a child at her shoulder," said the guide in her shrill, 事柄-of-fact 発言する／表明する. "They were buried together at the time of 疫病／流行性の! Here is a man who was killed by a sword-thrust"—the candlelight 公表する／暴露するd a 広大な／多数の／重要な gaping 負傷させる in his chest. "The 肺s are still there," she continued. "Listen!"

She thrust her 手渡す through the 負傷させる and, under the （電話線からの）盗聴 of her fingers, the 肺s 動揺させるd and rustled like dead leaves. Mr. Ricardo shivered deliciously, he felt （軽い）地震s up and 負かす／撃墜する his spine and in the 単独のs of his feet.

"What now?" he asked himself, wondering whether he could really 耐える more, when the guide stopped impressively beside the last 人物／姿／数字 in the 列／漕ぐ／騒動. She had, good showman that she was, kept her extra special supermummy for the last of the spectacle. And even before she had uttered one word of explanation a curious uneasiness and 不快 stirred amongst that little company; so vivid across all those centuries of interment remained this dreadful epitome of 苦痛.

The supermummy was the last of the gruesome spectacle.

Mr. Ricardo saw the 人物／姿／数字 of a 青年. His mouth was wide open as though he gasped for breath; his 長，率いる was bent 今後 as though he sought by a thrust of his shoulders to rise; and one 膝 was drawn tensely up に向かって the chest as though it drove against a 棺-lid.

"The doctors are agreed," said the woman with a sort of pride. "It is supposed that the boy was a cataleptic or the 犠牲者 of a ferocious cruelty. God be 賞賛するd, we live in gentler days! He was buried alive, and waked. He 叫び声をあげるd, you see, and gasped for 空気／公表する. The 脚 drawn up to 解除する all those feet of earth was so 緊張するd in agony that it could never be straightened again. It is 直す／買収する，八百長をするd so. The poor one!"

She moralized for a moment or two upon the advantage of living in the gentler age of today, whilst up and 負かす／撃墜する the red light of her candle flickered over that tormented 人物／姿／数字; until a man's rough 発言する／表明する cried out はっきりと: "Enough, mother! That's enough!"

It was for some such 尊敬の印 to the success of her show, it appeared, that the woman waited. She 消すd out the candle between her forefinger and her thumb, without a word, and for a little while, so still was everyone and so silent in the pitch 黒人／ボイコット cavern, that a new 訪問者 coming 負かす／撃墜する those winding steps must have believed it empty. Then the silence was broken, very faintly, at Mr. Ricardo's 肘, by a sigh; and his 血 turned 冷淡な as he heard it. There was neither pity in it, nor horror, but a 熱烈な longing that such a 刑罰，罰則 could still be exacted.

"Oh! Oh!"

It was a low cry of 願望（する）, savage and 原始の, the 願望（する） to 傷つける as no one had yet been 傷つける, to punish as no one had yet been punished, a whisper of 悔いる that no such 罰 was possible.

Mr. Ricardo tried to 人物／姿／数字 out in his mind who it was that stood beside him. He had an impression that it was a woman, but he could not be sure; and whilst he still 推測するd the guide's 発言する／表明する was raised again.

"Gentlemen, ladies, that is all. If you turn you will see a gleam of light from the steps. You, sir, who （機の）カム last, the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 is fifty centimes. I will give you a ticket at the 支払う／賃金-box."

The group of people つまずくd with 救済 up the steps. Mr. Ricardo was 拘留するd at the 最高の，を越す of them whilst he paid his half-フラン and received his ticket. But his 注目する，もくろむs were on the little group of people as they 分散させるd, and amongst them he saw a girl separate herself from the others and walk away alone. She was dressed with a 静かな distinction which surprised him in a 訪問者 to this macabre 展示. There was something incongruous —he wondered whether it could be she who had sighed. He would have very much liked to have cross-questioned her upon the 支配する. He was 非，不，無 the いっそう少なく, however, a trifle disconcerted when nine days later he was introduced to her in the 製図／抽選-room of the Ch穰eau Suvlac.

Evelyn Devenish? The contrast between that murky cavern with its grim 協会s and this 有望な room overlooking the Gironde no 疑問 影響する／感情d Mr. Ricardo's judgment. That the woman who sighed in the cavern could be this smartly-式服d girl who made so pretty a picture in the 製図／抽選-room was out of the question. He 解任するd his 疑惑 from his mind until a particular moment （機の）カム すぐに after dinner, when she challenged him to 否定する that they had stood in the same group, in the 洞穴 of the Mummies. Her 注目する，もくろむs had been 孤立した from him at once. Their ちらりと見ること had wandered to where Joyce Whipple lay 支援する in her low 議長，司会を務める. They had flashed with an implacable fury then, and they had moved up from the わずかな／ほっそりした foot in its slipper of silver brocade to the 膝, with a veritable hunger of hate. Oh, without a 疑問 Evelyn Devenish had been thinking at that moment of the distorted 人物／姿／数字 of that 青年 in the 洞穴 of the Mummies! She had been putting Joyce Whipple in his place, had been watching her 膝 圧力（をかける）d in a despairing agony against the 棺-lid. Yes, it was Evelyn Devenish who had sighed. Therefore, since both the girls had disappeared from the Ch穰eau Suvlac, and one had been 殺人d that one assuredly was Joyce Whipple.

This was the story which Mr. Ricardo told as he drove through the sunlit country to Villeblanche. Hanaud gave to it all his attention, but at the end he shook his 長，率いる.

"No woman, my friend, 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスd off that 権利 手渡す, though all the 憎悪 in the world 消費するd her."

"But no 疑問 she had 共犯者s to help her," Mr. Ricardo answered with a 患者 and condescending 親切. "You had not thought of that!"

Hanaud smote his forehead with a slight exaggeration of despair.

"It is terribly true!" he cried. "Hanaud is growing old. How ever should I solve this mystery alone! Fortunately you are here, the 長，指導者 of the Staff who tells the General what to do; the 力／強力にする behind the sofa. I lean on you. So tell me this. You have just the time!"

The car was approaching the long street of Villeblanche, 国境d by small white and dusty houses.

"When Madame Devenish turned this ugly look upon the delicate Joyce Whipple, who was beside Joyce Whipple? To whom was she talking?"

Mr. Ricardo rebuilt in his mind the 製図／抽選-room, its furniture and its occupants. He 始める，決める them all in their places, and exclaimed: "I know. He was at the 味方する of Joyce Whipple, a little behind her perhaps. Yes, certainly a little behind her. For he was leaning 今後 over the 支援する of her 議長，司会を務める—コマドリ Webster."

"Aha!" said Hanaud. "The good-looking young man with the white hair and the little shade of pedantry in his speech. The Apollo and the school-marm all in one, eh? So it was he. The same man who cried out suddenly 'Joyce! Joyce!' when it was discovered that she had disappeared. That is curious—yes! 井戸／弁護士席, we shall know in a minute whether you are 権利."

For the car had stopped at the 霊安室. And in a minute Mr. Ricardo knew that he was 完全に wrong. For stretched out upon the 霊安室 厚板, wrapped decently about in a clean linen sheet, her 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd, a look of peace upon her 直面する, lay Evelyn Devenish.

Mr. Ricardo's surprise was 激しい, but his 救済 even greater. Joyce Whipple had 負傷させる herself about his heart a little more closely than he had known. He put aside from him, for the moment at all events, all that was enigmatic about her, and the 可能性 示唆するd by Hanaud at Aix that she might have invented her queer story about Diana Tasborough's letters for some unknown 目的 of her own. He was content that she was not lying there on the 石／投石する 厚板.

"It is Madame Devenish, then?" said Hanaud, reading his friend's 直面する.

"Yes." Hanaud turned to the Commissaire Herbesthal, who had joined them, "It is as you thought. Let us see what we have to see. For we keep Mr. Ricardo from his 昼食."

Led by the attendant of the 霊安室, they passed by a 明らかにする, whitewashed passage to a room at the 支援する. The room was filled with cupboards, and the basket, still wet from the river, stood upon the 床に打ち倒す.

"I want to see the piece of linen in which this poor woman was wrapped," said Hanaud.

The attendant 打ち明けるd one of his cupboards, and took it out and 手渡すd it to Hanaud. Mr. Ricardo could see that one of its 辛勝する／優位s was torn from 最高の，を越す to 底（に届く）, and that it was stained with 血. Hanaud carried it に向かって the window and turned it over and shook it out and gathered it together again in a bundle. When he turned 支援する to the room again his 直面する was やめる changed. It was 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な and discontented. 明確に he had no liking for the 仕事 to which he was now committed.

"This, I think, will 証明する to be very important," he said, as he laid it carefully 負かす／撃墜する upon a 議長，司会を務める.

He went over to the basket and opened it. Mr. Ricardo, from the place where he stood, could not see the inside of it. He stole over on the tips of his toes to Hanaud's 味方する. It was lined with some sort of strong white canvas, which was here and there smeared with 血. Hanaud bent 負かす／撃墜する into it 速く, feeling the soaked lining at the corners.

"It has been torn here," he said, thrusting his fingers into the rent, and then his 直面する sharpened. He stood up, and turning the basket upon its 味方する bent over the wicker-work at one corner and の近くに to the 底（に届く）.

"See!" he said to Herbesthal. He pointed to a tiny wedge of yellow metal which 事業／計画（する）d between the withies of the wicker. He 始める，決める the basket once more upon its 底（に届く）, and 急落（する），激減（する）ing in his 手渡すs worked for a moment or two with かなりの exertion. When he stood up again he held in his 手渡す a 狭くする gold bracelet. It was open. A tiny wedge was made to slide into a hollow, where a spring caught and fastened it, and at the catch there was a large 解雇する／砲火／射撃 opal. Mr. Ricardo gasped incredulously as he looked at it.

"May I see it?" he asked, and Hanaud, 持つ／拘留するing—the two ends very gingerly in the tips of his fingers, stretched it out to him.

"You know it?" he asked.

"I have seen it before," Mr. Ricardo replied, his 直面する puckered in bewilderment.

"Where?"

"In London."

Some part of Mr. Ricardo's perplexity now showed in Hanaud's 直面する.

"But I understood you had never seen Evelyn Devenish before yesterday."

"Nor had I," said Mr. Ricardo. "When I saw that bracelet, it was upon Joyce Whipple's wrist. It is hers."

"Hers!"

Hanaud 星／主役にするd at Ricardo and from Ricardo to the bracelet.

"That is 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の," he said slowly. He turned the golden circlet over and looked at the inside of it. But there was no inscription there at all. Then he asked for a sheet of paper, and wrapped the bracelet in it carefully and laid it on the 倍のd linen.

"There may be some finger-示すs upon it which may help us," he said, and he stood 支援する and 星／主役にするd at it again, as though, even hidden in its paper wrapper, it could be 軍隊d to explain its presence in the basket. He flung himself again upon the basket, dived into it, and searched its every crevice. But it held no other secrets. Hanaud stood 築く again.

"You, Monsieur Le Commissaire, will be good enough to take 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the linen and the bracelet and have them 適切に 診察するd. 一方／合間 you and I"—he turned に向かって Ricardo —"will return to the Ch穰eau Suvlac. I shall ask you to stop at the office of Monsieur Tidon, the 診察するing 治安判事, but it will be only for a few minutes. For I have nothing to say to him except that we are at the beginning of a very dark and terrible 事件／事情／状勢."

He walked out of the 霊安室 with a slow step from which all the lightness had gone. For the third time Mr. Ricardo was aware of a 縮むing, a 不本意 in his companion.

"It is true," said Hanaud as they climbed into the car. He was answering Mr. Ricardo's unuttered question. "I have a glimpse of things I do not like to see. And I shall have to look them 十分な in the 直面する before I reach the end. I should say to Monsieur Tidon if I could: 'Sir, this is not my 事件／事情／状勢.' But it is my 事件／事情／状勢. I （機の）カム to Bordeaux about some 見えなくなるs—on the 直面する of it, a sordid, vulgar, uninteresting 商売／仕事, which a little attention would solve. But your 行方不明になる Whipple disappears too. Does that 見えなくなる stand by itself? Or does it 解除する the others to the level of a 広大な／多数の／重要な and 悪名高い 共謀? I don't know!" He brought his clenched 握りこぶし 負かす／撃墜する upon the cushions at his 味方する.

"But I must know. It is my 商売／仕事," he cried vigorously; and from that moment to the end of the long and difficult 調査, Mr. Ricardo saw no more of any hesitation upon Hanaud's part.

"There is one question I would like to ask," he said timidly.

"Ask it, my friend, for I have many to ask you," Hanaud replied.

"Was the 厳しいd 手渡す discovered in the basket?"

Hanaud shook his 長，率いる. "No! It is a pity. Yes—a 広大な／多数の／重要な pity. For in that 事例／患者 we might have discovered why it was 削減（する） off, and I think that of all the questions we have to answer, there is not one which is more important than that."

The car stopped at the 県.

CHAPTER 8. — THE MAGISTRATE IN CHARGE

DESTINY, careless as ever of the creature 慰安s, had written 負かす／撃墜する that Mr. Ricardo, who was rather particular about them, should have no 昼食 価値（がある） talking about at all on that unusual day. As Hanaud entered the vestibule of the 県, he was passed by a man who suddenly stopped and turned about. "Is it Monsieur Hanaud?" he asked.

"Yes," Hanaud replied, turning about too. "What a 一打／打撃 of luck! I am Arthur Tidon, the 診察するing 治安判事, and I was off this moment to the Ch穰eau Suvlac in search of you."

For a few minutes the two men talked 真面目に in the 影をつくる／尾行する of the archway, whilst Mr. Ricardo sat in the car and imagined that he was beginning to feel very faint for 欠如（する） of food. Then they （機の）カム out into the sunlight and approached him.

"My friend, Mr. Ricardo—Monsieur Tidon, the 裁判官 of 指示／教授／教育," said Hanaud, and he stood aside.

Arthur Tidon was a tall, わずかな／ほっそりした man of thirty-five years or thereabouts, with a thin, pointed, smiling 直面する. He was clean-shaven except for a short （土地などの）細長い一片 of whisker upon each cheek, and his 着せる／賦与するs were of an 都市の elegance.

"The 指名する of Mr. Ricardo is of course known to me in 関係 with the famous Hanaud and an 事件／事情／状勢 at Aix a few years ago," Tidon began affably. "I count myself happy that Providence has brought you together again at a moment so impressive. I 招待する you to give me at once a little of your attention in my office."

Mr. Ricardo was torn between his importance and the pangs of hunger. On the one 手渡す he had an intriguing story to relate which 司法（官）, the enigma of Joyce Whipple, the 苦しめる of Diana Tasborough, all 需要・要求するd should be 関係のある at once. On the other, would it not be more brilliantly told after a good 昼食, with a big, long, fat cigar to を強調する its 演劇—a minute's silence now whilst the lips expelled a neat （犯罪の）一味 of smoke and the 注目する，もくろむs thoughtfully watched it 開始する and dissipate, a vigorous quick puff afterwards to illustrate the 続けざまに猛撃するing of his heart, an インチ of white ash flicked off by his little finger to の近くに a 宣告，判決? It was hard to abandon these 即位s of good story-telling, harder than to forget his stomach's emptiness, but the 治安判事 had opened the door of the リムジン; and Mr. Ricardo had committed his foot to the step.

Tidon led the way into a large, oblong, comfortably furnished room at the 味方する of the 前線 door. Two tall windows looked on to the street; a 膝-穴を開ける （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する stood between them; against the 塀で囲む was a smaller （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する where the 治安判事's clerk sat 令状ing.

"I shall （犯罪の）一味 for you, Saussac, when I have finished with these gentlemen," said Tidon pleasantly, and the clerk rose at once with a little grimace of 失望. He left the room with his 注目する，もくろむs so 意図 upon Hanaud that he knocked his nose against the パネル盤s of the door.

"My poor Saussac," cried Monsieur Tidon, laughing. "He is heart-broken. So little happens here—the 窃盗 of a cure's vestments at the most. Then comes this startling 事例／患者. Bouchette, from the window, sees the 広大な／多数の／重要な Monsieur Hanaud and his famous friend Mr. Ricardo 運動 up to the door, and he is sent out of the room. Yes, poor fellow."

He laid his hat and his malacca 茎 upon a 味方する-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and placed a 議長，司会を務める in 前線 of his （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する for Ricardo and another for Hanaud, and then stood behind it 直面するing them.

"You see?" he 動揺させるd on, laughing once more, but this time with 陳謝 in his 発言する／表明する. "We have here all the discredited methods—the light behind me and 向こうずねing upon your 直面するs. Everyone who is 診察するd 認めるs the old trick at once and composes his 表現s to 敗北・負かす it. But I keep to the 協定 because it gives me the light over my left shoulder, and there is no 影をつくる／尾行する upon the paper when I 令状."

Mr. Ricardo wondered whether the 診察するing 治安判事 動揺させるd on in this superfluous way to put them at their 緩和する, or in sheer nervousness because he had to 対処する with a problem of such unwonted gravity. He sat 負かす／撃墜する すぐに afterwards in the arm-議長，司会を務める behind the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, looked from one to the other of his guests and then leaned briskly 今後, his 手渡すs, in 有望な yellow gloves of chamois leather, clasped lightly in 前線 of him.

"I 武装解除する myself," he said with a smile, "by a 自白. I am of Paris, you understand, where I have important friends, and in time, no 疑問, I shall be able to help those who now help me" —this with a frank ちらりと見ること に向かって Hanaud. "I want that time to come soon. In 可決する・採択するing the profession of a 裁判官, I knew of course very 井戸／弁護士席 that I must pass my 保護監察 in the 州s. But this little dusty corner is not my world at all, and here is my chance to escape from it—with your help. This 事件／事情／状勢 will （犯罪の）一味 through フラン—the fame of the Ch穰eau Suvlac ワイン, the social position of the 犠牲者, the mysterious and 悪意のある nature of the 罪，犯罪—all make that 確かな as daylight. 井戸／弁護士席 then! I must have a 犯罪の, and such 証拠 that 有罪の判決 is 確かな ." He 圧力（をかける）d his 手渡すs tightly together, and then with a quick, short gasp of breath hurried on: "Yes, a good 有罪の判決! Help me to that, and I pass on to Bordeaux, which is after all a city where one eats 井戸／弁護士席. And from Bordeaux to Paris—a mere step! I see myself there already," he 追加するd gaily, laughing himself at the intensity of his 願望（する）. "For Paris is"—and he turned searchingly for a phrase に向かって Mr. Ricardo—"you have an idiom in your language—"

"Certainly he has," cried Hanaud, leaping into the conversation long before Mr. Ricardo was ready to 供給（する） the phrase. Idioms indeed! Who but Hanaud should 供給（する） them?

"Paris!" he exclaimed with a courteous wave of his 手渡す. "It is your spirituous home."

"正確に／まさに," replied the 治安判事, and the two men 屈服するd at one another with 広大な／多数の／重要な satisfaction. "Assuredly the English have phrases," said Monsieur Tidon, and he 屈服するd again politely to Mr. Ricardo.

"So the ground is （疑いを）晴らす. We work, the three of us, for a good 有罪の判決 at the Assizes. That is 井戸／弁護士席! Now you, Mr. Ricardo, have seen the 団体／死体 of our young 犠牲者?"

"Yes, monsieur."

"And you identify it?"

"Yes. It is that of a Mrs. Evelyn Devenish, a 訪問者 at the Ch穰eau Suvlac."

"Good! That is something. Now, what do you know of her?"

"Nothing," replied Mr. Ricardo. "I met her for the first time last night. I never heard her 指名する before. I 発言／述べるd, however, that though she was introduced to me as 'Mrs.,' she wore no wedding-（犯罪の）一味."

Tidon the 治安判事 looked at his 証言，証人／目撃する cunningly. "Our first little trace of a 手がかり（を与える）. So—you assume that this Evelyn Devenish was a woman of an 不規律な life."

Mr. Ricardo started 支援する in horror. And then reflection （機の）カム. After all, could he honestly say that he had not been assuming that? He was a little troubled when he realized what irresponsible conjectures he was 存在 招待するd to attest. "I have not the slightest 当局 to assume anything of the 肉親，親類d," he replied 慎重に. "A woman may leave a （犯罪の）一味 upon a wash-stand."

"A wedding-（犯罪の）一味?"

"She may have discarded it long ago and 離婚d her husband."

"And yet kept his 指名する?"

"Devenish may be her maiden 指名する. I don't know. But no 疑問 行方不明になる Tasborough does."

Mr. Ricardo was growing restive under these questions, and the shortness of his speech showed it.

"I had a wish to spare that young lady as much annoyance as I could," the 治安判事 観察するd, and Mr. Ricardo coloured at the rebuke. "You are a friend of hers, of course. You shall tell me everything."

Mr. Ricardo walked warily in his answer to this 需要・要求する. "Everything" meant a number of little 詳細（に述べる）s which were, to use his favourite word, 半端物. The 苦悩s, for instance, which Diana's letters had awakened in Joyce Whipple. An unconscious telepathy there might no 疑問 have been between the mind of the writer and the reader, the words of the letters 事実上の／代理 as a sort of telegraph line. But it would not be fair to 推定する on such elusive grounds that Diana when she wrote was 乱すd by some 圧力（をかける）ing menace of which she was careful not to let one hint escape. No; he would omit the letters altogether from his reply. Next, Diana had certainly spent the summer at Biarritz instead of in London. 井戸／弁護士席, that was not 価値（がある） について言及するing. Thirdly, she had sent her lover to the rightabout. But any girl may do that. The hero of a week ago is the 衝突，墜落ing bore of today. It can't be helped. It may be gossip for a newspaper but no 証拠 of 罪，犯罪. Fourthly, Diana had a picture on the 塀で囲む above her bed which Mr. Ricardo was most anxious to see. But he hadn't seen it; and in any 事例／患者 it was Hanaud's 商売／仕事, not his. Fifthly and above all, he, Mr. Ricardo, was Diana's guest, and not ten thousand Arthur Tidons in a hurry to get to Paris should 誘惑する him to disparage her. He spoke accordingly in warm 条件 of her social position, of her many friends, of her love of sport.

"And last night you noticed no change in this young lady?" the 治安判事 asked quickly.

Mr. Ricardo was a trifle 混乱させるd. "Last night?" he repeated slowly, and he shook his 長，率いる and 急落（する），激減（する）d into a description of her growing horror and amazement this morning as the 見えなくなる of her friends was 明らかにする／漏らすd. "It struck her 負かす／撃墜する in the end. Monsieur Hanaud had to carry her to her room."

"Yes, sir," Hanaud said at once in corroboration. "No one could have been more shocked. I broke the bad news too 突然の. Mademoiselle Diana fainted."

Monsieur Tidon had been making a 公式文書，認める now and again whilst Mr. Ricardo was speaking. Now he tapped the butt of his pencil upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with a 不満な 空気／公表する. He was assuredly a long way off this good 有罪の判決 which was to make his fortune.

"And this other young lady, 行方不明になる Whipple"—he pronounced it Vipple—"did you know her, too, before yesterday?"

"Yes."

Mr. Ricardo felt at a greater 緩和する. There was after all nothing more important than that the mystery of her 見えなくなる should be （疑いを）晴らすd up at once. Whatever account he could give of her was at the 治安判事's 処分. He gave her history so far as he knew it, and 追加するd: "But I did not 推定する／予想する to see her at the Ch穰eau Suvlac. No! Two months ago in London she told me that it was ありそうもない she could come, that she must return to America, and she used a strange phrase. 'Cinderellas must be off the 前提s before midnight.' That is a curious 発言／述べる for a young lady with a 麻薬を吸う-井戸／弁護士席 in California. I didn't understand it."

"Nor do I," said Tidon. "She has relations?"

"A sister who is married."

"In America?"

"Yes."

"A fiance, too, perhaps?"

"I think not."

The 治安判事 was growing more and more discouraged. "We shall make our 調査s of course in England," he said gloomily, "but they pass through many channels. It will take time before we get our answers, and when we do"—he stood up, flinging out his gloved 手渡すs—"shall we be better off? Was there ever, Monsieur Hanaud, a 事例／患者 more difficult?"

Hanaud did not 安心させる him. Indeed, he 追加するd yet another to the 複雑さs of the 事件／事情／状勢. "It is made more difficult still by the 事柄 of the bracelet."

"Bracelet?" cried the 治安判事 はっきりと. "What bracelet?"

"The bracelet of Joyce Whipple which I 設立する in the basket, half an hour ago." Hanaud 関係のある how he had discovered it, and how Mr. Ricardo had identified it, and ended with a couple of questions which no one in the room could answer.

"Did it slip from that 厳しいd wrist unnoticed? Was it put deliberately into the basket so that it might be 設立する after a search, and 疑惑 directed upon Joyce Whipple? Who shall say?"

The 治安判事 shrugged his shoulders despondently. "Now —no one." He looked に向かって Hanaud, however, and his 直面する （疑いを）晴らすd and a 希望に満ちた smile made it pleasant. "But let us not forget that we have Monsieur Hanaud with us. In a few days he shall say."

Once more the two men 始める，決める to work 屈服するing at each other with ceremonious 愛そうのよさs, which at a moment when all was bewilderment and muddle, Mr. Ricardo thought supremely ridiculous. When the 業績／成果 was at an end the 治安判事 began to move away 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the end of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"Since for the moment, then, this is all you have to tell me—" He started thus to 解任する his guests, when Mr. Ricardo caught him up.

"But, sir, this is not all," he cried timidly, 粘着するing to his 議長，司会を務める although both Hanaud and Tidon were on their feet.

At once the 治安判事 stopped. "This is not all?"

"No. I have not told you that I woke up at two o'clock this morning."

すぐに so sharp a change occurred in that room that its very atmosphere was different, its occupants men of another stamp. A second ago baffled and despondent, they were now watchful and 警報. The 空気／公表する was 電気の. They were held 石／投石する-静かな by suspense, Mr. Ricardo no いっそう少なく than his c ompanions, for the 魔法 of the 物語を話す人／作家 was upon him and to these 罰金 trained minds his narrative might be the 手配中の，お尋ね者 Open Sesame. He used 非，不，無 but simple words and spoke them in an even, sober 発言する／表明する; and 奮起させるd by the breathless attention of his audience, he enjoyed for one 簡潔な／要約する memorable space the artist's sense of 勝利. He told them of his sleeplessness, his ちらりと見ること at his watch, the raising of his blinds. They saw with him コマドリ Webster's first-床に打ち倒す light flicker and go out, and the windows 燃えて in the white house upon the hill. They went out with him on to the dark terrace and rapped upon the glass door of the turret-room. They saw the light behind the curtains there 消える in a trice; and, returning to his bedroom with him, watched one by one the windows on the hill recede into the night. Even after he had finished, Mr. Ricardo's two auditors stood for a while, neither moving nor speaking, like men dumbfounded.

It was Hanaud who broke the silence. "And that turret-room you speak of—Oh, I understand very 井戸／弁護士席 your delicacy, but, 式のs! there is no room for delicacy or reticence—it is the room into which I carried 行方不明になる Diana Tasborough this morning."

Mr. Ricardo could not but 収容する／認める it. "Yes. It is her room," he said, and the 治安判事, as though exasperated by the difficulty of his problem, struck the palm of his 権利 手渡す 負かす／撃墜する upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and turned 突然の away to the window at his 支援する. He stood there 直面するing the street. He 解除するd up his 手渡す to the bolt and played with it, swaying his 団体／死体 backwards and 今後s, a man at the end of his wits.

"I can tell you one thing, Monsieur Hanaud, which may help you," he said in a faint, low 発言する／表明する. "The house upon the hill is the house of Monsieur de Mirandol, whom you, Mr. Ricardo, met last night. He is a 広大な／多数の／重要な student, a member of many learned societies, and it is no rare thing for his windows to 燃やす until the 夜明け. 一方／合間," and he swung 一連の会議、交渉／完成する again to 直面する the room, "our first 義務 is （疑いを）晴らす, isn't it? It is to find this girl Joyce Whipple—if we can. I ゆだねる that 仕事 to you, Monsieur Hanaud, with every 信用／信任. Find her for me, whether she be alive or dead."

"Alive!"

The word broke from Hanaud in a bellow loud and violent, so that the room rang with it. He stood 築く, his 注目する，もくろむs 炎ing, his big 団体／死体 from 長，率いる to foot one challenge, one 否定. Even Mr. Ricardo, who had seen him in so many moods, was startled by his passion. His cry was a 炎上. He would not have it that Joyce Whipple was dead. He was ready, like Herakles in the play, to 格闘する with Death for her himself. Even Tidon was moved by the 面 of him.

"Good," he cried with a smile. "That is the spirit we want. Alive, then! I count on you. Yes, indeed, alive. For, after all, what do we know. 司法（官） may have need of this young lady." A 公式文書，認める of steel had crept into Tidon's 発言する／表明する.

He stood up as 築く as Hanaud and 静かに 直面するing him. Were the two men 範囲d in opposite （軍の）野営地，陣営s, Ricardo wondered. Certainly there was a suggestion of menace in the 治安判事's 態度, a suggestion of 選手権 in the 探偵，刑事. The 治安判事 手配中の，お尋ね者 his "good 有罪の判決"—that was not to be forgotten. On the other 手渡す, Hanaud's 爆発 might have been no more than the 表現 of his passion for a 完全にする 削減する 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd finish to a 事例／患者, with every malefactor held to atonement. He bent his 長，率いる now in an unquestioning deference.

"I shall do my best."

Tidon rang the bell and a gendarme 行為／行うd his 訪問者s to the door of the 県. Hanaud ちらりと見ることd up to the windows of the 治安判事's office, which were just above his 長，率いる.

"That is a very clever man," he said, with a 尊敬（する）・点 which やめる surprised his friend. "Yes, 示す me 井戸／弁護士席! A very clever man! Remember that I have said it."

Again, was it deference, or was it 対立 which dictated those words? Mr. Ricardo could not decide, was not in truth given the time to decide. For Hanaud proceeded to commit one of those offences about which the particular finical gentleman was most touchy. He gave an order to Mr. Ricardo's chauffeur, without the merest by-your-leave.

"To the Ch穰eau Suvlac," he cried as he stepped into the car.

"It is, after all, my Rolls-Royce," Mr. Ricardo 抗議するd indignantly.

"It might be a Ford," Hanaud answered graciously. "You should still carry me 支援する to the Ch穰eau Suvlac."

Mr. Ricardo jumped upon his seat. "You don't follow me, I am afraid," he said coldly.

"Ah, but I do!" Hanaud chuckled. He 押し進めるd a big fat finger into Ricardo's ribs. "Yes, yes, I follow you. It is that excellent 裁判官 who does not. Ah! Ah! Ah!" and he shook his finger now at Ricardo, as though he playfully rebuked a naughty child. "We keep our little secrets—yes, yes. We 選ぶ and choose what we tell—yes, yes. But I, Hanaud, I say, No, no! We were asked a question and at once we are the startled chamois on the hill."

"Nonsense," Mr. Ricardo interrupted rather guiltily. "I 現在の no resemblance to a chamois. I never did."

"The question was," Hanaud continued, "'Did you notice last night any change in the charming 行方不明になる Tasborough?'—and you would not answer it. Therefore you did notice a change, my friend—and you shall tell that inquisitive old elephant of a Hanaud what that change was."

"I have no 反対 to telling you," said Mr. Ricardo, "though the change I noticed has nothing whatever to do with the 事例／患者."

"Let me be the 裁判官. One never knows."

"Very 井戸／弁護士席, then. In London, Diana Tasborough was the mistress always. Mrs. Tasborough the 影をつくる／尾行する, the chaperon without 当局. At Suvlac the positions were 逆転するd. Mrs. Tasborough was the ch穰elaine, more than a little petulant, more than a little exacting; Diana the submissive, docile 区. I was astonished."

"Oho!"

Hanaud sat up in the car.

"But that is a big change, my friend, a very big change. Let us understand it. Something has given the older woman the mastery over her niece. She had learnt something which gave her the 支配（する）／統制する, eh? Some nice 静かな piece of family ゆすり，恐喝, eh?"

"No," Mr. Ricardo replied. He was やめる sure that that explanation wouldn't do. He took a moment or two to put into （疑いを）晴らす words the impression which he had. "I think that Diana was 占領するd by some overmastering idea. You, see, there never was any 競争 between Diana and Mrs. Tasborough—never any struggle for 支配（する）／統制する. Diana 演習d it without question, and without question, too, Mrs. Tasborough acquiesced. It seemed to me that Diana had dropped that 支配（する）／統制する as not 価値（がある） bothering about, as too troublesome, as somehow 干渉するing with whatever 最大の関心事 所有するs her. And that Mrs. Tasborough 選ぶd that 支配（する）／統制する up and is making the most of it. Diana was always a little aloof; and last night it didn't seem to me that she even noticed that she was no longer the queen, but the lady-in-waiting."

"Ah!"

Hanaud's exclamation was one of comprehension rather than of surprise. "To me that is very 利益／興味ing," he 追加するd softly, and leaning 支援する again in the car he sat mum until they drew up at the pink archway of the Ch穰eau Suvlac. Then he woke to life again. As he sprang out he said:

"I shall be 感謝する if you will go into the house before me and say that we have returned. It may be that 行方不明になる Tasborough will be the first person you will 会合，会う. Already I have 原因（となる）d that young lady 広大な／多数の／重要な 苦しめる. It might be a shock to her if when she does not 推定する／予想する it I come 直面する to 直面する with her again."

There were moments when Hanaud 陳列する，発揮するd a やめる surprising delicacy. "After all, he has not known me for nothing all these years," Mr. Ricardo said to himself with pride. He 同意d to Hanaud's 計画（する） with alacrity, and went 今後 alone に向かって the door. But half-way up the 運動, he turned about and noticed that Hanaud was engaged in an earnest conversation with his chauffeur. His thoughts took on a different and censorious complexion.

"My car and my chauffeur!" he 反映するd now. "He behaves as if he owned them! I 信用 that I am not 封建的, but even the liberties of a city have their bounds."

He was a little consoled by his quip, but at the 前線 door he turned again. The conversation at the archway was still 訴訟／進行. It 夜明けd upon Mr. Ricardo that he had been sent 今後 by Hanaud not from any delicacy of 感情, but to make an 適切な時期 for a やめる 私的な conversation with his chauffeur. He waited in the porch accordingly until Hanaud joined him, hauteur and indignation in every line of his 直面する. But Hanaud waved his 手渡す airily.

"I know, I know, my friend. It was a subterfuge. Yes, my manners are all that is deplorable. But you must take me as I am. As you say very 井戸／弁護士席 in your idioms, you cannot make a silk purse out of a Bath chap."

CHAPTER 9. — TELLS OF EVELYN DEVENISH

FOR half an hour Hanaud was busy with the Commissary Herbesthal and his own assistant Moreau, in a room which had been put aside for them. Mr. Ricardo, left to his own 装置s and 存在 in a maze of 疑問s, 憶測s, prejudices and ignorance, snatched some 昼食 and 始める，決める himself 負かす／撃墜する in the library in 前線 of the window. Half-way between the terrace and the hedge at the 底（に届く） of the garden a gendarme stood sentinel at the 辛勝する／優位 of a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する flower-bed. There were three little brown 塚s on the surface of the bed, as though a mole had been at work; and the thought of that industrious animal became to Julius Ricardo a reproach and an inspiration. He took a sheet of paper from the stand to make a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する for his own 指導／手引. He drew a dividing line 負かす／撃墜する the middle of the sheet, 始める，決める the facts, so far as he knew them, upon the left-手渡す 味方する, and his questions and 疑惑s upon the 権利. After half an hour of laborious breathing and 深い cogitation, he had produced the に引き続いて 要約; upon the 最高の，を越す of which he wrote the rather pretentious legend: "The 事件／事情／状勢 at the Ch穰eau Suvlac"—so:

The 事件／事情／状勢 at the Ch穰eau Suvlac

(i) A 罪，犯罪 has been committed. For young ladies do not を刺す themselves to the heart, 削減（する） off their 手渡すs, put themselves into baskets, and throw basket, themselves and all into a river unaided. This is true. (2) The 犠牲者 is a young woman, Evelyn Devenish, wo is or has been married, but wears no wedding-（犯罪の）一味.

Important to discover at the earliest moment Evelyn D.'s antecedents.

(3) So far, no 動機 for the 罪，犯罪 has been discovered or 示唆するd.

(4) So far, the 厳しいd 手渡す has not been 設立する.

Question (i): Why was the 手渡す 厳しいd after death? Or at all?

(5) Another guest at the Ch穰eau Suvlac disappeared upon the same night, an American girl, Joyce Whipple, and a gold bracelet which she was wearing was 設立する in E.D.'s basket.

A very unusual occurrence. Question (2): Was J.W. 現在の when E.D. was basketed, and did the bracelet become unfastened and 落ちる unnoticed in the horror of the moment?

(6) My 観察 保証するd me that E.D, had a 広大な／多数の／重要な ill-will に向かって J.W. and would 喜んで have seen her dead.

On the 直面する of it, therefore, it would have been more probable that J.W. should be 殺人d by E.D., than E.D. by J.W.

(7) When E.D. betrayed by a ちらりと見ること of 憎悪 her feelings に向かって J.W., コマドリ Webster was seated の近くに to J.W. in a rather caressing 態度.

(8) When the fact of J.W.'s 見えなくなる became known, コマドリ Webster uttered a cry of grief and 狼狽.

(7) and (8) might have 供給するd a 動機 for the 殺人 of J.W by E.D., if the two girls were 競争相手s for the young man. But no 動機 for the 殺人 of E.D. by J.W., since J.W. was the successful 競争相手.

(9) Since E D.'s bed was undisturbed and there was no noise in the house, it looks as if she had left the house and was 殺人d outside.

But when? The lights which I saw in the white house on the hill at two o'clock in the morning have been explained by the Juge d'指示／教授／教育.

(10) It appears that Joyce Whipple did not sleep in her room either, and it becomes necessary to consider her position in this 事例／患者.

(11) Her first 声明 to me in London about the letters which she had received from Diana; which, によれば Hanaud, may be explained either:

(a) She wished to 準備する me for what was to happen at the Ch穰eau Suvlac, for some 目的 of her own;

(b) She was a hysterical person;

(c) She was just speaking the truth.

With regard to (a) Tidon, the Juge d'指示／教授／教育, would probably 受託する it. But he wants a good 有罪の判決.

With regard to (b) no; she was not hysterical.

With regard to (c) you cannot any longer scoff at telepathy. It is a fact.

(12) Joyce Whipple is 一般に held to be a rich American girl. Yet she spoke of herself as Cinderella.

(13) She might have been kidnapped.

Why?

(14) She might have run away.

Why?

(15) There remains Diana Tasborough for consideration. She was both astounded and horrified at the 殺人 of E. D and the 見えなくなる of J. W.

Women 犯罪のs are admirable actresses. All police 当局 agree.

(16) Her docility to her aunt showed that she had some 広大な／多数の／重要な obsession.

やめる.

(17) She has a picture over her bed which gave Hanaud an idea.

Mem. I must see that picture as soon as I can.

(18) A light was 燃やすing in her room at half-past two in the morning. When I knocked upon the glass door it went out extraordinarily quickly.

Very 怪しげな.

(19) In 見解（をとる） of the surprising difficulties of the 事例／患者, judgment must be 一時停止するd, But some questions must be borne in mind.

Yes, e.g. (i) Why was Evelyn Devenish's 手渡す chopped off?

Mr. Ricardo's 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）.

As Mr. Ricardo wrote those last ineffectual words Hanaud's 発言する／表明する spoke above his shoulders.

"So there we are! We 一時停止する the judgment! To be sure. What else can we do when we have no judgment even to 一時停止する? And some questions must be borne in the mind. How very, very true that is."

Mr. Ricardo 紅潮／摘発するd and looked up haughtily. "I made these 公式文書，認めるs 単独で for my own 指導／手引."

"They are there, just as 価値のある as if they had been made to guide me."

"And, やめる uninvited, you read them across my shoulder."

"Not 同様に as I could wish," Hanaud answered imperturbably, as he reached 今後 and gathered the sheets in his 手渡す. "You 許す? But, of course! What a question!"

Indeed it had been Mr. Ricardo's 意向 to 現在の this little 要約 of his inconclusions to Hanaud at some 劇の flavour. There were some pages of Robinson Crusoe, casting up the "fors" and "againsts" in the same judicial spirit. にもかかわらず he was a little nervous as he watched Hanaud reading them. He had been jeered at and trampled upon before very 無作法に. He was delighted, therefore, to see that his friend read them slowly and with a serious 直面する.

When he had done, Hanaud 倍のd the sheets and 手渡すd them 支援する with a little smile of 評価.

"You shall put them in your pocket, and keep them 安全な, so that no one sees them but you and I. For I tell you, Mr. Ricardo, you almost 令状 負かす／撃墜する there one most important question."

Mr. Ricardo, on the other 手渡す, was conscious that he had written 負かす／撃墜する not one but many important questions, and there was no "almost," either, about his way of putting them. They were direct, short and pithy—models of questions. But, of course, Hanaud would never 収容する／認める any really high 長所 in another. That was very, very far from the habit of his mind. Ricardo was accustomed to make an allowance for this defect in his friend the 視察官, and he smiled indulgently.

"You 言及する, of course, to the question why Evelyn Devenish's 手渡す was 残酷に 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスd off after her death."

To his surprise, Hanaud shook his 長，率いる vigorously. "No. That is a question—yes, but it leaps to the 注目する，もくろむs that is a question."

Mr. Ricardo pulled his 公式文書，認めるs out of his pocket and 熟考する／考慮するd them thoughtfully.

"It is, then, the question of Evelyn Devenish's antecedents," he 発言／述べるd, and was wrong again.

"No. The question you approached was much more subtle than that. As for Madame Devenish's antecedents—they come under the 長，率いるing of 決まりきった仕事. I think, indeed, we shall learn something 限定された about them at once—for Mademoiselle Tasborough has 回復するd from the shock of the bad news which I brought to her, and is good enough to receive us."

He unlatched the door between the library and the 製図／抽選-room and passed in with Ricardo at his heels. The room, however, was empty, and Hanaud stopped 突然の. The long windows stood open upon the terrace, and Hanaud with his noiseless step approached them and peered 慎重に out. He returned to Mr. Ricardo with an 半端物 smile upon his lips.

"It was just 同様に that I did not read your 公式文書，認めるs out aloud, my friend," he said in a low 発言する／表明する. "We spoke of what? The 手渡す 削減（する） off—yes—and Evelyn Devenish's antecedents —that was all."

He was 明確に relieved, and now raised his 発言する／表明する a trifle above his usual compass.

"We shall no 疑問 find that young lady upon the terrace," and he stepped out at the window.

Mr. Ricardo understood Hanaud's 苦悩 when he followed him. For Diana was sitting upon a garden seat の近くに by the open window of the library, and not a word which they had spoken, but she must have overheard it. She raised her 長，率いる, however, without the slightest 当惑. Though her 直面する was still pale, her manner was collected, and she could even 召喚する up the ghost of a smile. Only her 注目する，もくろむs had the unmistakable look which comes with 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な illness or immeasurable trouble.

"I am sorry that I made such an idiot of myself this morning, Monsieur Hanaud," she said,

"Oh, mademoiselle, the 悔いるs must come from me. To discover with so 厳しい a precipitancy that of two 広大な／多数の／重要な friends one is lying mutilated and dead in a ありふれた 霊安室, and the other has 消えるd, would 税金 anyone of sensibility."

Hanaud was speaking with the 形式順守 which became his position, but to Mr. Ricardo's thinking he was repeating the fault for which he わびるd. Diana replied with a slight hesitation: "You speak of two 広大な／多数の／重要な friends, Monsieur Hanaud. But in an 事件／事情／状勢 so serious it is best to be exact. I'll 収容する／認める to you that when your assistant told me that the girl who was dead was Evelyn Devenish, I did feel, heartless though it may sound, a かなりの 救済. For Joyce is one of my very dearest friends."

"Who shall 非難する you, mademoiselle?" Hanaud answered gently. "Let us after all 収容する／認める that we are human."

"Your assistant, monsieur—"

"Moreau," Hanaud interposed as she paused.

"Yes. Monsieur Moreau told me at the same time that you 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see me. Won't you sit 負かす／撃墜する? And you too, of course, Mr. Ricardo." She turned to him for the first time during this interview, but though her lips 偽造のd a faint smile, her 注目する，もくろむs as they met his were hard as アイロンをかける.

"If I am not in the way," said Ricardo in some 混乱. There was no 疑問ing her 敵意. She was putting him 負かす／撃墜する as a busybody who was 粘着するing to the skirts of his beloved 探偵，刑事 and poking his nose into 事柄s much too momentous for so inconsiderable a person.

"It is for Monsieur Hanaud to say who is in the way, and who not," she answered coldly; and Hanaud （機の）カム to the unfortunate man's 救助（する）.

"Mr. Ricardo has already been of service this morning, in more ways than one," he said with a gentle remonstrance to which Diana Tasborough made no 返答 whatever.

The two men drew up a couple of アイロンをかける garden 議長，司会を務めるs to Diana's （法廷の）裁判 and sat themselves 負かす／撃墜する.

"Now, mademoiselle," Hanaud began briskly. "This young Madame Devenish was not, I gather, a 広大な／多数の／重要な friend of yours, but she was your guest here, and no 疑問 you will know something of her history."

"Of course," she returned. But she was silent for at least a minute, looking at Hanaud with 憶測 and at Mr. Ricardo as though he did not 存在する, and so 支援する again to Hanaud.

"I want you to spare her memory as much as you can," Diana 再開するd in a sudden 爆発. "She had of late years a most unhappy life. That indeed is why I asked her to stay with me this year at Suvlac. She was the daughter of Dennis Blackett, a financier of 極端に wide 利益／興味s and enormous wealth, a very good friend, I believe, and like so many men who are very good friends, a 悔恨-いっそう少なく enemy. I don't think Evelyn had much chance from the beginning."

"He hated her?" Hanaud asked.

"On the contrary, he doted on her. Her mother died when she was six or seven; she was an only child, and she grew up amongst governesses and servants who had to obey every whim of hers or lose their 職業s. Dennis Blackett made an idol of her. He 指名するd his ヨット after her, and his 割れ目 filly and his prize Jersey cow, and an orchid of his own 創造, and whilst she was still a child, she 統括するd at his （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. He flattered her beauty to her 直面する. Nothing that she did was anything but uncommon; nothing that she said was anything but witty. And that wasn't the end of his adoration. There was something fantastic in it—oh, even that doesn't 表明する what I mean! There was something 異常な in it. Yes, Dennis Blackett, with his hard city 長，率いる, was silly in 接触する with Evelyn. I'll give you an instance. I saw it happen myself, for I once stayed in his house—" Diana broke off suddenly. "But you want, of course, to hear about the marriage, not about these trifles."

"The marriage afterwards—yes," Hanaud pleaded 真面目に. "But these 詳細（に述べる）s first, if you please. You call them trifles, mademoiselle. I don't. For just such trifles build character. And how shall we reach the truth in a 事例／患者 so obscure, unless we understand something of the people 関心d in it, of the what—they—have—been which has made them what—they—are."

Ricardo had seldom seen Hanaud so eager, so insinuatingly insistent as he was at this moment. He sat leaning with his 肘s upon his 膝s, his strong 直面する and 警報 posture both （人命などを）奪う，主張するing Diana's narrative. "The instance, if you please." Diana nodded her 同意 and 再開するd. "井戸／弁護士席, then, here it is. Dennis Blackett had a 広大な／多数の／重要な house in Morven on the Sound of 検討する，考慮する. The house had a high staircase with 幅の広い shallow treads all in dark gleaming oak. It was a fancy of his—no, fancy's altogether too light a word—it was a passion of his to see Evelyn, dressed in her prettiest 着せる／賦与するs, step daintily 負かす／撃墜する this staircase. He would stand at the 底（に届く） of the stairs in the hall, and 訂正する her just like a dancing-master if she stepped awkwardly or made an uneasy gesture, and send her 支援する to the 上陸 to begin all over again. Of course she made a very pretty picture, わずかな／ほっそりした and fresh and young, glistening in her lovely 着せる／賦与するs against the dark background, but the whole scene made me —what shall I say?—uncomfortable. It struck me as all wrong. Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Hanaud replied.

"And you understand too, then, that Evelyn must have been an angel with silver wings if she hadn't grown up vain, utterly self-willed and ready to 返す his folly in the way such follies are repaid. Evelyn's twenty-first birthday fell in the month of August. Dennis Blackett brought a 広大な／多数の／重要な party of his friends up to Morven to celebrate it. For a week before her birthday the house was packed. They 発射 grouse by day, danced at night and kept high festival. I was there, and I could hardly imagine a man so absurdly happy and so absurdly proud as Dennis Blackett. Until the morning of Evelyn's birthday. A message was brought to each one of his guests at breakfast-time; no one saw him; and by the afternoon the house was empty but for him. Late on the night before Evelyn and Julian Devenish, a young man who 借りがあるd everything to Blackett, had slipped 負かす／撃墜する to the small harbour of the Sound, sailed across in a little sloop to Oban and taken the first train to London, where they were married."

"And this Monsieur Blackett never forgave that treachery," Hanaud interposed.

"Never. I told you he was a relentless enemy. He swept Evelyn out of his life altogether. He remained alone in his 広大な／多数の／重要な house in Morven until the late autumn. Then he （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する to London, and methodically 始める，決める to work to 廃虚 Devenish. Oh, it wasn't much and it didn't take long. If you dealt with Devenish, you see, you didn't を取り引きする Dennis Blackett. If you were 利益／興味d in any of Devenish's 関心s, you were liable to find your 株 knocked about from day to day until they went to nothing. The little swansdown pill-box of a house in Mayfair went piecemeal. One of a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of red cottages at Surbiton took its place. Then that went in its turn and three rooms at Sydenham had to make a home for the girl of the shimmering frocks and the oak staircase at Morven. There were quarrels without end, of course, each one 非難するing the other. Within a year Devenish was stripped 明らかにする and blew his brains out."

"And even that wasn't enough," Hanaud 追加するd. There was a 公式文書，認める of 気が進まない 賞賛 in his 発言する／表明する. He lived in a 接触する so の近くに with the shifty volatile mind of the 犯罪の, that he could not but 尊敬（する）・点 thoroughness, even if it were a thoroughness in cruelty.

"No, that wasn't enough," Diana agreed. "Evelyn wrote to her father. She was 絶対 destitute. She was answered by a clerk and a typewritten letter. Every ４半期/4分の1, if she 適用するd for it, she would receive one hundred and twenty-five 続けざまに猛撃するs for the 残り／休憩（する） of her life. That was three years ago. Evelyn could live cheaper on the Continent than in England. She went abroad and I met her, for the first time since her birthday party in Scotland, this summer at Biarritz."

"She was—you will 許す the question— alone?"

"Terribly alone."

"And you （機の）カム upon her in the Casino, I suppose?"

Diana seemed to be upon the point of 説 "Yes"; but she 反映するd for a moment and then answered: "No. Let me see! It certainly wasn't in the Casino. I think that it was upon the ゴルフ-links. She had some 宿泊するing in the cheaper part of the town, and I asked her to stay with me and then brought her on here."

"Mademoiselle, that was generous," Hanaud 観察するd with a little 屈服する. "Now you shall tell me about your real friend, the American, Joyce Whipple."

Diana Tasborough threw up her 手渡すs in a gesture of despondency. "It is curious, Monsieur Hanaud, but I know much いっそう少なく about my real friend than I do about my 知識. That she and her sister are alone in the world, that they （機の）カム over from America two years ago, that they have an oil-井戸／弁護士席 on their land in California, that the sister married recently and returned to America—the whole world knows as much as I do. Joyce was always very reticent about herself—even to me. She was 十分な of enthusiasm for the things she was doing and seeing over here, and the people whom she met. But about herself and her home, you couldn't get her to talk of them."

"Tell me about your real friend, the American, Joyce Whipple."

"Yes, that is curious," Hanaud agreed, but he did not 圧力（をかける） Diana with any more questions. He rose from his 議長，司会を務める and spoke gratefully. "I must thank you, mademoiselle. What you have told me will be of the greatest help. I make a little 推薦 to you in return. 電報電信s must be sent both to America and to this inexorable Monsieur Blackett—" He broke off from his 推薦 to interject—"Do you know, I have a 広大な／多数の／重要な sympathy with that 厳しい man? All that devotion, foolish no 疑問 but frank, and for reward first the treachery, then this 哀れな end. It will be 権利 that he should hear the bad news from you, before the newspapers tell it to him. It is the only 有望な 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, eh? that at Suvlac we are far from the newspapers. I recommend, therefore, that mademoiselle put herself into her car and 運動 to Pauillac or whatever telegraph office is nearest, and send off the messages herself. It will give mademoiselle something to do."

Diana looked at him with unbelieving 注目する，もくろむs. Then a light shone in her 注目する，もくろむs and the 血 急ぐd in a 激流 into her 直面する. "Ah, you are happy that I ask you to go upon this errand," Hanaud 観察するd with a smile.

"Happy—no. Glad—yes—immensely glad," she answered in a sort of eager 混乱. "To sit here useless on this terrace watching the Gironde, and that sentinel by the flower-bed, with one's 手渡すs idle and one's thoughts going 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in a circle! Oh, terrible! Thank you! I'll get my hat"; and she sprang up, 回復するd to life and 活気／アニメーション, and ran off through the open window into the 製図／抽選-room.

Mr. Ricardo had strolled away to the 辛勝する／優位 of the terrace 占領するd with a little struggle of his own. He was やめる aware of Diana's dislike for and disdain of him, and was inclined to think the worse of her in consequence. On the other 手渡す he was a susceptible person and her 巨大な 救済 at 存在 given something to do moved him. He was thus in two minds whether to 警告する Hanaud with some such subtle question as, "Are you wise to let her go off without a gendarme in the car to take care of her?" or to congratulate him upon his delicate consideration. Mr. Ricardo's higher nature, however, got the upper 手渡す of him; and as Hanaud joined him, he said encouragingly: "That was very thoughtful of you, my friend."

"Yes, yes," Hanaud answered. "It was very thoughtful of me."

"The 運動 in the fresh 空気／公表する will do her a world of good."

"Yes, yes, and we shall have the house to ourselves, and that will do us a world of good too," said Hanaud with a grin.

Mr. Ricardo turned 一連の会議、交渉／完成する with a start. So that was the 目的（とする） which had 誘発するd all this show of delicate feeling! But he said nothing in 批評 of this duplicity. He stood on the contrary with his mouth open. For he was looking now into the 製図／抽選-room and he saw a man there talking to Diana. The man stood with his 支援する to the long window and 井戸／弁護士席 within the 影をつくる／尾行する of the room, so that it was 平易な to mistake him. Mr. Ricardo, however, had not a shred of 疑問.

"So, after all, he is here," he cried in a low 発言する／表明する.

"Who?" Hanaud asked, swinging 一連の会議、交渉／完成する に向かって the window.

"Why, look! The 診察するing 裁判官, Monsieur Tidon."

"Oh!" said Hanaud slowly in a 乾燥した，日照りの 発言する／表明する. "So that is Monsieur Tidon, is it?" and at that moment the man turned 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

It was not the 診察するing 裁判官 at all, but 単に Mr. コマドリ Webster, the 経営者／支配人 of the vineyard. He （機の）カム to the window.

"Monsieur Hanaud, if you don't want me I'll 運動 with 行方不明になる Tasborough into Pauillac. The work at the vats can go on without me. There are overseers of experience. It is true that with my 手渡す 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうd like this," and he ちらりと見ることd 負かす／撃墜する at his arm supported in a sling, "I shall not be of much use for 運動ing. But after the shock which 行方不明になる Tasborough had this morning, I'm not very 平易な about her 運動ing herself alone. I want no more 悲劇s in the Ch穰eau Suvlac."

"I understand that very 井戸／弁護士席, Monsieur Webster," Hanaud replied. Nothing could have been more cordial and kindly than his manner. "By all means 運動 that young lady into Pauillac and help her with her 電報電信s. And for yourself. You will not think me 有罪の of an impertinence. No. But I heard your little cry of 苦しめる this morning. You shall not lose heart, hein? We shall try to find for you your little friend with the charming 指名する," and he clapped コマドリ Webster on the shoulder heartily.

"I shall not lose heart," Webster 主張するd. But his 直面する was convulsed with a spasm of 苦痛 and grief. "But, oh, be quick! Be quick!" he cried in a low 発言する／表明する. "We are all 近づく to breaking-point in this house." He 回復するd himself in a moment, and coloured as a man will when he is caught in a 陳列する，発揮する of emotion.

"I am afraid, too, that your 負傷させるd 手渡す is giving you a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 of 苦痛," said Hanaud 厳粛に.

"It throbs, of course, as such 負傷させるs will. But it is only for a day or two. If that were the sum of our troubles here, we should not think much of them," コマドリ Webster replied with a shrug of the shoulders, and turned to another topic. "You will perhaps speak to Monsieur Le Commissaire Herbesthal, so that we may take out the car from the garage."

Hanaud stepped 支援する in astonishment. "But certainly I will, although there is no need. Monsieur Herbesthal will not 干渉する with you. You go of course where you will, and Mademoiselle Tasborough too."

He hurried into the house and to the room in the wing where the Commissaire sat making his 報告（する）／憶測. He was 支援する again upon the terrace with an agility which やめる belied his lamentations over his age, and 設立する Mr. Ricardo 深い in thought.

"I have been 反映するing," he said. "I am 明白に unwelcome to 行方不明になる Tasborough. It is 権利 that I have my 捕らえる、獲得するs packed and return to Bordeaux."

But Hanaud would not hear a word of any such 行為／行う. "Listen! This is not a moment for the dignities! No—I 拘留する you, I, Hanaud. I will make myself （疑いを）晴らす upon that point to Mademoiselle Tasborough. Let the inestimable Thomson put one of your paper collars in your 捕らえる、獲得する, and I 逮捕（する） you very 厳しく. You shall pack your sensibilities into the 捕らえる、獲得する, but nothing more. That is understood. One paper collar—one 逮捕（する）. For you are of use to me—do you 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる that?" He used a トン of wonder which was やめる natural and sincere. Yes, he was astonished that Mr. Ricardo could help him. But there it was. He looked his companion over and saw nothing which could explain the remarkable fact.

"Yes," he repeated, "Hanaud is 現実に helped by this Mr. Ricardo."

Mr. Ricardo smiled modestly. He was immensely relieved that he was not to be 許すd to retire from this 悲劇の embroglio where every hour brought its new thrill, its new mystification. "Once more," he said to himself with a 解除するing heart, "I chase 犯罪のs to their doom. They are cubbing in the Midlands. Let them cub!"

"Help you is a big word," he said with a 全く 誤った diffidence. "I have had the good fortune to 明らかにする／漏らす a few strange facts to you—"

"More than that," said Hanaud, and he himself fell into a troubled muse.

Mr. Ricardo was buoyant.

"More than that?" he exclaimed. "For instance?"

"For instance—yes," and Hanaud （機の）カム out of his muse. He slipped his arm through Ricardo's and bent his 注目する，もくろむs closely upon him. "For instance, what made you mistake just now the unhappy コマドリ Webster for the Juge d'指示／教授／教育? They are both more or いっそう少なく of the same build to be sure. The hair of one is growing a little grey; the hair of the other is white, though, again, it would not look so very white in the 影をつくる／尾行する of the room. Yes, yes. But you sprang at your conjecture very confidently. You clung to it. You would have it so. There in that room was Monsieur Tidon. Now, why were you so sure? Can you tell me? Think 井戸／弁護士席!" and he shook Ricardo's arm that he might think the better.

Mr. Ricardo went over in his mind this and that 詳細（に述べる）. Yes, undoubtedly he had been very sure. 着せる／賦与するs? No. Monsieur Tidon had worn a 黒人／ボイコット coat, and コマドリ Webster a—a—a —brown one. Certainly not a 黒人／ボイコット one. Why then had he been so sure?

"No," he said at last. "I cannot tell you why."

"Yet nothing more illuminating to me has happened since this morning than that cry of yours," Hanaud continued. "For without that cry I should not have seen—"

"What?"

Hanaud wrinkled up his nose in a grimace. "What I did see. I tell you, my friend. In this 事例／患者 you are the germ-運送／保菌者. I get the 病気 and you give it to me without knowing what you are doing."

Mr. Ricardo drew his arm はっきりと away. "That is a most unseemly metaphor," he said, and stopped. For Hanaud was not listening to him. His 手渡す was raised, his 長，率いる inclined に向かって the house. The silence was broken by the throb and whine of a モーター-car.

"They have gone," cried Hanaud. "Let us be quick."

CHAPTER 10. — THREE ROOMS

HANAUD swept through the 製図／抽選-room into the hall, where Moreau his assistant was sitting. He spoke an order over his shoulder without pausing in his walk.

"Bring the 重要なs, Moreau," and with Moreau and Ricardo に引き続いて behind him, he turned to the left and at the end of the passage again to the 権利, into the wing where Mr. Ricardo slept. It was in the middle of this wing that the Commissaire Herbesthal had 任命する／導入するd himself. Hanaud opened the door.

"Monsieur Le Commissaire, I 提案する now to visit the bedrooms of these two young ladies."

Monsieur Le Commissaire rose at once. "I am at your 処分."

Evelyn Devenish had 占領するd a room in the same wing but nearer to the 支援する of the house. Moreau led the way to it and taking a 重要な from his pocket 打ち明けるd the door. Hanaud stood in the doorway 封鎖するing the 入り口.

"There is little, it seems, to help us here," he said.

Behind him Mr. Ricardo dodged about, 捜し出すing in vain for a （疑いを）晴らす 見解（をとる）. But he got the impression of a room tidy and neat as though the housemaid had just left it. The window was の近くにd and looked upon the avenue of dark trees. The coverlet of grey silk was spread over the bed. Every 議長，司会を務める was in its place. Hanaud crossed the room to the window. It was a window on the English pattern and the sashes were not bolted. He 解除するd the lower one and looked out. The terrace was 長引かせるd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 味方する of the house for a 十分な ４半期/4分の1 of the length of the wing, and the 旗s stretched beneath the window to the 辛勝する／優位 of the avenue of dark trees. Upon their 乾燥した，日照りの surface there was not a 示す. Hanaud の近くにd the window again and turned 支援する into the room. There was a wardrobe in which some dresses were hung, and a chest of drawers filled with the more intimate 詳細（に述べる）s of the 洗面所. Hanaud turned に向かって Ricardo.

"You remember perhaps the colour of the dress Madame Devenish wore last night?"

"It was green."

"Do you see it here?" Hanaud asked, standing by the open wardrobe.

"No."

"We shall （犯罪の）一味 for Marianne."

Hanaud rang the bell, and whilst he waited 診察するd a little 令状ing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する 近づく the window, on which stood a blotting-pad, an inkstand with a tray of pens and a small despatch-事例／患者. The blotting-pad was as clean as the 旗s outside the window. The pens had the rusty look of pens which had not been used for many a long day. Hanaud opened the despatch-事例／患者. It held a few small 領収書d 法案s from shops in Biarritz, and a cheque-調書をとる／予約する on a London bank. Hanaud looked at the counterfoils. A few cheques had been drawn to "self" for small 量s. Hanaud 取って代わるd everything in its old position and smiled ruefully at Mr. Ricardo.

"Not a letter from a friend! It is true! That young lady was lonely and poor. She paid for that flight across the water on the eve of her birthday."

A dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する stood beneath a pendant of electric light, and this was the only piece of furniture in the room which showed the least disarrangement. The lid of the big glass 砕く-bowl was off, the hair 小衝突s, 支援するd with tortoiseshell and 始める，決める with Evelyn's maiden 初期のs E.B., in gold, were one here one there. A hare's foot lay dropped at 無作為の; a tiny マリファナ of 乾燥した，日照りの 紅 was 暴露するd; a pencil of lip-stick had not been sheathed. Hanaud nodded his 長，率いる and pursed his lips as he took 公式文書，認める of this 混乱. Then he turned に向かって the door almost before Marianne had opened it.

"Marianne," he asked, "can you tell me what 着せる／賦与するs are 行方不明の from this poor woman's wardrobe?"

Marianne shrugged her shoulders. "That should not be difficult. She had not so many, the poor lamb!"; and of all the 不適切な 表現s which Mr. Ricardo had ever heard, that word "lamb" as 適用するd to a creature of passions and strong hate like Evelyn Devenish, seemed to him the worst. It was magnificent in its absurdity.

"There is 行方不明の, monsieur, the dress which madame wore last evening," said Marianne, as she felt along the hanging 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of 着せる／賦与するs, "and a cloak."

"Ah!" Hanaud exclaimed. "A cloak!"

"Yes, monsieur, a cloak of brown satin, 温かく lined with white ermine and with a big collar and cuffs and 国境 of white ermine too. It was a cloak of madame's other days. For very sure, she could not have afforded so beautiful a 包む today."

"Thank you," said Hanaud. He cast one final look about the room and 追加するd: "We will now visit the room of mademoiselle the American. For very likely, Marianne, you can help us there too."

"We will now visit the room of mademoiselle the
American," said Hanaud. "Marianne, can you help us?"

Marianne threw up her 手渡すs. "For Mademoiselle Whipple, my good gentleman! That is a very different thing! She goes from have no very high idea of men who run here and there to see ladies' 着せる／賦与するs."

If ever there was a lamb, Mr. Ricardo 反映するd, that lamb was Hanaud of the Surety Generale of Paris. Marianne stood with her 武器 akimbo, wilfully 誤解 the help she was asked to give. She resented in every fibre this 侵略 of the Ch穰eau Suvlac by the police. She had seen her beloved young mistress struck 負かす／撃墜する, as if by a merciless 握りこぶし. Mr. Ricardo wondered whether behind all this 暴力／激しさ there was not a 恐れる of whither this 調査 would lead. She 影響する／感情d to frown upon the burly Hanaud as though he were some hopeless decadent. Hanaud, however, was meekness itself, so that the Commissaire, who was red in the 直面する with 乱暴／暴力を加えるd dignity, could not believe his 注目する，もくろむs or ears.

"It is because I wish to see mademoiselle wearing once more her pretty frocks that I ask you to show me them, Marianne," he said; but it seemed that Marianne knew better, for she turned to the door with a disdainful 投げ上げる／ボディチェックする of her 長，率いる and strode 支援する along the 回廊（地帯） past the 前線 door again and turned 負かす／撃墜する the passage に向かって the turret.

A door 直面するd her, and in the corner at the angle was a second door a good 取引，協定 narrower, with パネル盤s of ground glass in the upper part of it. This door Marianne unlatched and drew open. A 狭くする spiral 石／投石する staircase 建設するd in the thickness of the 塀で囲む 負傷させる 上向きs. Marianne 上がるd it to a small 上陸 and 停止（させる）d in 前線 of another door. On this a sheet of 公式文書，認める-paper was 直す／買収する，八百長をするd with a pin. It read:

Marianne—Je vous prie de ne pas me reveiller Le matin.

Hanaud asked of Marianne, "Is that mademoiselle's handwriting?"

"Yes, monsieur. I give the letters to the postman. That is the 令状ing of mademoiselle."

"No 疑問," Hanaud agreed.

Moreau produced another 重要な and 打ち明けるd the door, and the whole party followed Hanaud into a large room with one wide window which overlooked the garden and the 幅の広い water of the Gironde. The window stood open and Hanaud paused at it. The tide had turned again and was running seawards, so that the breast of the river was ぱらぱら雨d with little ships at 錨，総合司会者, their sails all furled and their 厳しいs に向かって distant Bordeaux. The gold of a September afternoon painted the lovely country. In the furrows between the vines the 小作農民s stooped and straightened their 支援するs and stooped again; and for a moment or two the contrast between the peace outside and the mystery which haunted this room held everyone in a （一定の）期間.

Hanaud was the first to break it. "Ahaha! There are other points of difference in this room, Marianne, besides the 着せる／賦与するs," he cried, looking about him; and indeed where all had been tidiness in Evelyn Devenish's room, here all was disorder. The silver dress which Joyce Whipple had worn was flung carelessly across a 議長，司会を務める; her silver slippers lay one kicked into one corner, another in the middle of the room; her stockings had been 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd in a bundle on to a second 議長，司会を務める. It was （疑いを）晴らす that upon coming up from the 製図／抽選-room Joyce had changed her dress even to her shoes and stockings in a 広大な／多数の／重要な haste.

Hanaud opened a wardrobe which stood against the 権利-手渡す 塀で囲む of the room. It was 十分な of dresses and tailored 控訴s all hanging 整然とした.

"There are others in the lowest drawer," said Marianne, pointing to a tall chest of drawers against the 支援する 塀で囲む by the 味方する of the door. Hanaud stooped and drew it open. Certainly some other skirts and coats lay there, but they were all neatly 倍のd. Hanaud turned to Marianne and spoke 突然の and with 当局.

"You have been very amusing, Marianne, no 疑問. But we are not here to amuse ourselves. You will now tell me plainly, whether to your knowledge any dress is 行方不明の from the wardrobe or the drawer."

"I do not know," Marianne replied without budging an インチ.

"Or any cloak."

"I do not know. Mademoiselle has been at the Ch穰eau Suvlac for a fortnight, and once or twice she has put on a 包む in the evening when she has been out of doors on the terrace." She went to the wardrobe and 診察するd the 着せる／賦与するs hung up there. "Yes, it has always been this one," and she touched a glittering cloak of gold lame.

"Thank you," said Hanaud. "I need not keep you any longer from your service."

Marianne の近くにd the door of the wardrobe and went out of the room. Hanaud walked over to the bed which stood against the 塀で囲む opposite to the wardrobe with the foot of it stretching out into the room. The bed-着せる／賦与するs were 宙返り／暴落するd, the pyjamas crumpled up, the pillow flung aside. Hanaud threw the bed-着せる／賦与するs 支援する. The lower sheet was flat and tightly stretched over the mattress without a wrinkle on its surface.

"Yes, it is （疑いを）晴らす," said the Commissaire. "Nobody has lain in that bed since it was made."

Hanaud called Mr. Ricardo to his 味方する.

"Let us now put やめる 明確に, my friend, the question you approached. Madame Devenish retires to her room. She stops for a moment at her dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する to touch her hair, 砕く her 直面する, and 修理 the little disorders of the evening. She puts on her cloak of brown satin, opens her window and slips out. Whither she is bound we do not know. But she does not 宙返り／暴落する her bed. No! Why should she? If she does not mean to come 支援する, there is no 推論する／理由 why she should pretend to have slept in it. If she does, there is still いっそう少なく 推論する／理由, for she means to sleep in it on her return. That is （疑いを）晴らす, eh?"

"Yes," Mr. Ricardo agreed.

"But now consider the 事例／患者 of Joyce Whipple! She, too, retires to her room. She changes her 着せる／賦与するs in a 広大な／多数の／重要な haste, and then—" he flung his 武器 out wide—"she, too, is gone. But her bed is 宙返り／暴落するd. If she meant to come 支援する and sleep in it, again I ask you, why should she 宙返り／暴落する it? If she did not mean to come 支援する, what is the use of pretending that she has slept in it? There is a notice on the door—'Do not wake me, Marianne!' If she does not mean to come 支援する, she has taken her 警戒s. She will not be 行方不明になるd until the hour of 昼食. Why should she 宙返り／暴落する her bed any more than the unhappy Madame Devenish? So you see your question, plain and （疑いを）晴らす now."

Mr. Ricardo had not one idea of the nature of the famous question which he was supposed to have put, but he nodded his 長，率いる vigorously and sagely.

"Of course," he said.

"Did Mademoiselle Whipple go out of this room of her own （許可，名誉などを）与える?" Hanaud went on, to Ricardo's amazement. "Yes, that is the question."

"But there was no noise," Ricardo 反対するd.

"No, there was no noise that anyone could hear, and yet I ask myself that question. She meant to go somewhere—that is （疑いを）晴らす from the fact that she changed her 着せる／賦与するs in so much haste. Oh, there are a hundred questions. Did she mean to go with the woman Devenish? Did she mean to follow her? Was it by an 事故 that she meant to go where she meant to go on the same night that Evelyn Devenish went? But more important than all these questions is this one. Did she 現実に in the end go of her own （許可，名誉などを）与える? Suppose that she was taken away—"

"By 軍隊?" interrupted Mr. Ricardo.

"And by some persons who had not noticed that 令状ing on the door, because they are in the dark and in a hurry. If they 宙返り／暴落する the bed they may 勝利，勝つ some hours before it is discovered that the young lady has disappeared. Marianne finds the bed in disorder. Very 井戸／弁護士席. Then mademoiselle has risen 早期に. She may be amongst the vines." He suddenly turned to his companions and cried:

"Let someone explain that 宙返り／暴落するd bed to me in some other way. I shall be very glad."

There was a 公式文書，認める of 苦悩, of 深い feeling in Hanaud's 発言する／表明する which troubled everyone in that room. He was setting no 罠（にかける） now to parade his cleverness. He looked from 直面する to 直面する, eager for a 納得させるing 解釈／通訳 other than the only one he discovered for himself.

"Can you, Monsieur Le Commissaire?"

"No."

"Come, Moreau! You!"

"No, Monsieur Hanaud."

"And you, Mr. Ricardo, I hardly ask, since it was you who first of all of us （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd the significance of this 製造（する）d disorder."

He turned sombrely away from the bed and then 急襲するd upon a 令状ing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する which stood in 前線 of the window, but a little way 支援する from it. A leather blotting-調書をとる／予約する lay の近くにd upon it. Hanaud opened it and at once half a sheet of the blotting-paper ぱたぱたするd 負かす／撃墜する to the 床に打ち倒す. He 選ぶd it up. Its inner 辛勝する／優位 was jagged. Hanaud compared it with the other sheets.

"Half of this has been torn away," he said, "but we shall not find it."

There was a waste-paper basket beside the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, but it was empty. There was a drawer in the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. It held no torn sheet of blotting-paper, but on the other 手渡す it did 持つ／拘留する a jumble of letters opened and 押し進めるd 支援する into their envelopes. Hanaud sat 負かす／撃墜する in the 議長，司会を務める in 前線 of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and with his 直面する to the window and his 支援する to the room 始める，決める himself quickly to read them.

"Aha! She has friends, this young lady," he said more to himself than to any of those behind him. And after another moment or two, "Who is a 確かな Bryce Carter?"

Mr. Ricardo started as he heard the 指名する, and without so much as turning his 長，率いる Hanaud exclaimed:

"So you know him, my friend."

"No. I know a little of him," Mr. Ricardo returned. "He was at one time engaged to Diana Tasborough," and Hanaud swung 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in his 議長，司会を務める.

"What is this you tell me?" he said slowly, with a letter open in his 手渡す. Mr. Ricardo remembered very 明確に the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） which Joyce Whipple had given to him about this young man, in London, but he remembered still more 明確に the 混乱 with which she had given it.

"Bryce Carter is a young man who was in the Foreign Office, but he left it to go to the City and make money, since he did not wish to be the poor husband of a rich wife. But a few months ago he 衝突，墜落d."

Ricardo remembered the graphic word and 再生するd it.

"衝突，墜落d?" Hanaud repeated. "衝突，墜落d? That is an idiom," and he was utterly surprised that here was an idiom with which he was unacquainted.

"I mean that Diana Tasborough broke off her 約束／交戦."

"Oh!"

Hanaud turned 支援する to the drawer. He searched amongst the litter of envelopes and 設立する another of the same handwriting and then another; and he read them all through. He looked over his shoulder at Ricardo with a grin.

"I make you a prophecy. That young man will make money in the City. He wastes no time, the scamp," and with a little mimicry of burnt fingers he dropped the letter he was 持つ／拘留するing and took it up again gingerly. "They are live coals, these letters of Bryce Carter. Oh, oh, they boil"—he put his fingers ridiculously into his mouth and blew upon them—and suddenly all his play-事実上の／代理 中止するd. Some やめる new thought had smitten him, and he sat, his 団体／死体 逮捕（する）d, a man changed into 石／投石する.

"Yes," he said at last. "Yes," and now very soberly he continued his examination of the drawer. For a little while he 設立する nothing to 利益／興味 him, and then he leaned 支援する in his 議長，司会を務める 星／主役にするing at a sheet of paper.

"It is not 平易な to read, this 署名. Do you know a 指名する Brever?"

Ricardo shook his 長，率いる.

"There is a 指名する Brewer."

"Yes? Then that is it. Brever. Henry Brever, and he has a pharmacologic 研究室／実験室 at 物陰／風下d."

"Oh!"

Mr. Ricardo jumped.

"You know him?" asked Hanaud.

"Again, I know of him. Sir Henry Brewer. He is a renowned 内科医 充てるd to 研究."

"A curious friend for a young lady of fashion," said Hanaud.

Mr. Ricardo as a 国民 of the world was in a position to put his friend 権利 in 事柄s of the social order.

"We don't live in our 部類s and departments as much as you do in フラン," Ricardo explained with a trifle of condescension. "No, we have the habit of a wider life. Our actresses dine in high company and 著名な 内科医s run around with the girls."

Hanaud 屈服するd his 長，率いる meekly. "It must be very pleasant for the 著名な 内科医s," he said. Mr. Ricardo, curious as to the character of the letter, drew nearer to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. But before he could get so much as a glimpse of it, Hanaud 倍のd it, 取って代わるd it in its envelope, and put the envelope in his pocket. It was to the credit of science that he didn't have to blow upon his fingers to 冷静な／正味の them, afterwards. He rose up from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and as he の近くにd the drawer he said: "I keep this one letter, and I beg of you that no one shall について言及する it. We forget the 指名する of Brever! So!" He の近くにd his 注目する，もくろむs for a moment and opened them again. "It is done. And there—is no 物陰／風下d. So!" He repeated his 業績／成果 with his eyelids and to Mr. Ricardo who was 星／主役にするing at him with a 確かな disfavour. "Ah! I am a comical, eh? Yes, but I do not always live in my 部類 and department, either. In that I am like—the one I have forgotten. Let us go!"

He took a final ちらりと見ること about the room. The dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する stood against the same 塀で囲む as the wardrobe opposite to the bed. The window and the 令状ing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する were between. A cluster of light globes was 直す／買収する，八百長をするd in the centre of the 天井. There was a 基準 lamp by the bed, two upon the dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and in the 支援する 塀で囲む two sconces were 始める，決める, fitted with electric bulbs. Hanaud took all these 詳細（に述べる）s in and led the way 負かす／撃墜する the 石／投石する staircase into the angle of the 回廊（地帯）.

"And this," he said, 掴むing the 扱う of the door の近くに by, "this is the room of Mademoiselle Tasbruff."

"Tasborough," Ricardo 訂正するd him.

"That is what I say, 'Tasbruff.'"

He remained with his 手渡す upon the knob, 手段ing with his 注目する，もくろむs the distance between the two doors.

"This something," he asked of Ricardo, "which flicked past you last night outside upon the terrace—it was a person? It could not have been a bat or an フクロウ?"

"Oh, no. It was a person. I am sure."

"But you had no 疑惑 who it was?"

"非，不，無."

"And it 消えるd through the window of this room, at the door of which I am standing?"

"Yes."

"At half-past two in the morning?"

"Yes."

"Good! We have that （疑いを）晴らす," and Hanaud turned the 扱う and for a second time entered Diana Tasborough's bedroom.

Mr. Ricardo had been を待つing this moment in a fever. He almost 押し進めるd Hanaud out of the way in his 苦悩 to get to that picture on the 塀で囲む above the bed and pluck its secret from it. He 苦しむd one of the 広大な／多数の／重要な 失望s of his life. For he 設立する himself 星／主役にするing at one of a myriad copies of Tintoretto's picture of the Grand Canal of Venice. The gondolas, the pale 集まり of the Doge's Palace, the ドーム of Santa Maria del Salute— Mr. Ricardo had seen them a hundred times on the 塀で囲むs of a hundred bedrooms, had slept under them, he too. There was no secret to be plucked out of that picture, no mystery by its mute 機関 to be laid 明らかにする. Mr. Ricardo gazed reproachfully at the 探偵，刑事 who hurried to his 味方する.

"You see nothing there?" Hanaud asked.

"Nothing."

"It must be, then, that there is nothing to see."

Nothing there—no! But there was that curious brightness in Hanaud's 注目する，もくろむs, that curious alertness in his manner, which Ricardo had noticed before in this very 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. Even his 発言する／表明する was vibrant with excitement. Once more this room had had some 決定的な （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） to give to him. The picture—a joke and not in the best taste. But jokes in bad taste played upon you delightedly were part of the price which you had to 支払う／賃金 for the thrills which his friendship was apt to 供給する. Mr. Ricardo swallowed his grievance and gazed with a frowning brow about the room for just that changed thing which had so encouraged Hanaud. 式のs! He could not find it. There was the mirror, the 令状ing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with the crucifix, the same 瓶／封じ込めるs of perfume on the dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する—no, Mr. Ricardo was at a loss. He （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd Hanaud watching him with the 影をつくる／尾行する of a grin upon his 直面する.

"It is peculiar, isn't it?" said Hanaud quickly.

"Very. Very peculiar," replied Mr. Ricardo, who was not going to be made a mockery and derision if he could help it.

"If you are 満足させるd, there is one more room which we should visit before our hostess and her 経営者／支配人 return. It is not pleasant to find the police poking their noses into little intimate secrets which have nothing to do with them. Yet that, 式のs, in their wide search the police must do. So let us 原因（となる） as little annoyance as we can. Moreau, you will ask Monsieur Le Commissaire to 地位，任命する someone to watch the road and give us 警告 of the car's return."

Monsieur Le Commissaire, however, was disinclined to 身を引く the dignity of his tricoloured sash from Hanaud's 調査. He nodded to Moreau.

"You will find Andrieu Biche in the room we are using. You shall 地位，任命する him at the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す which is most convenient."

Moreau went reluctantly upon his errand.

"Andrieu Biche has his wits about him," said the Commissaire to Hanaud. "We are 安全な from interruption."

Mr. Ricardo knew Hanaud 井戸／弁護士席 enough to realize that he was now in a 広大な／多数の／重要な hurry. He led the way on to the terrace by the long window in the 屈服する of the turret, passed 速く along the 直面する of the house, crossed the avenue of trees and （機の）カム out into the open space of grass upon which the chalet was built. On the 辛勝する／優位 of this space he 停止（させる）d just for a second. But there was not any movement 明白な within the chalet, and a 審査する of trees 避難所d the onlookers from the 観察 of the labourers about the ch臺s and the vats. にもかかわらず Hanaud crossed the 陰謀（を企てる） of grass at a run, flung open the white gate and was at the door of the chalet with a 速度(を上げる） which his 本体，大部分／ばら積みの altogether belied. The door was latched but 打ち明けるd. It gave upon a 狭くする passage with a door on either 味方する, a staircase beyond, and beyond the staircase, through an open doorway, the party caught a glimpse of a kitchen. Hanaud stopped in the passage again for a second with his finger to his lips. But not a sound could be heard.

"The service of the chalet is done from the ch穰eau," Hanaud said with a 公式文書，認める of 救済. "It is empty."

A hurried step sounded on the gravel behind him. He turned 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. The new-comer was Moreau 支援する from his errand to the Commissaire. "A man is 地位，任命するd on the road," he said.

"Good!" Hanaud replied. He paid not the slightest attention to the rooms on the ground 床に打ち倒す, but sprang quickly up the stairs. A bathroom and a dressing-room stood upon one 味方する, a long bedroom upon the other with a window at either end. Hanaud went at once to the window, which looked out across the grass on the avenue of trees.

"It was here that you saw the light 燃やすing?" he asked of Mr. Ricardo.

"Yes."

The room was lit at night by electricity. A 基準 lamp stood upon a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する by the bed and a couple of brackets were 直す／買収する，八百長をするd in each of the 塀で囲むs.

"Yes," Hanaud repeated. But he was not 満足させるd. A （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する stood in the centre of the room but in a line with the window. He ran his 注目する，もくろむs over the articles upon it—a 調書をとる／予約する, a fountain-pen, a 事例／患者 for 公式文書，認める-paper and envelopes, a blotter, a 瓶／封じ込める of 署名／調印する, a pencil—but he was looking for something, and the thing he looked for was not there. Some cupboards were let into a 塀で囲む 味方する by 味方する. Hanaud opened them in their order. In one, 着せる／賦与するs dangled upon hangers; in the second, コマドリ Webster's linen was arranged upon 棚上げにするs. In the third, which was fitted with 棚上げにするs too, his 関係 and collars and socks and handkerchiefs were grouped. But they only took up two 棚上げにするs and there were three. The third was given over to 半端物s and ends —a leather collar-box, a few 瓶／封じ込めるs, a Thermos flask, and a saucer. Hanaud の近くにd the door and swung 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, he clapped his 手渡すs and rubbed the palms together while a smile slowly overspread his 直面する. Oh, he had 設立する what he was looking for —not a 疑問 of it. But Mr. Ricardo was not 支払う／賃金ing any 広大な／多数の／重要な attention to him. He had 設立する something too. Yes, he had —an idea.

"Hanaud, I have an idea," he cried as he stood by the window. In a moment Hanaud was shaking him by the 肘 with every 調印する of 賞賛 and excitement.

"An idea! 現実に! That thing so rare! Speak it! Don't keep me on the テント-hook! Put the idea so priceless into priceless words!"

"You will not laugh at me?"

"My friend!" The two words breathed a whole world of reproach.

"Very 井戸／弁護士席, then. I 手段 the length of the wing of the ch穰eau with my 注目する，もくろむs."

"I had not thought of it! Now I do," said Hanaud.

"On the left at the end of the wing, obliquely from us, is my window."

Hanaud curled his 手渡すs into a mimicry of オペラ-glasses and held them to his 注目する，もくろむs.

"I do see that," he said 真面目に. "It is very 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の."

"There, just opposite to us, is the window of Evelyn Devenish."

Hanaud 崩壊（する）d into a 議長，司会を務める. "Oh!" he cried. "To be sure it is! 井戸／弁護士席, then! Oh, speak!"

"井戸／弁護士席, then! I told you of the murderous look which Evelyn Devenish 発射 at Joyce Whipple when コマドリ Webster was leaning over her 議長，司会を務める."

"You did! You did!"

"Don't you see, then? It was to this chalet that Evelyn Devenish fled of her own （許可，名誉などを）与える when she left her room last night. It was to her lover コマドリ Webster."

All the enthusiasm faded out of Hanaud's big 直面する. Discouragement became 明白な in the limpness of his 態度. He shook his 長，率いる at Mr. Ricardo with the tenderest of reproach, and 圧力（をかける）d a large 手渡す upon his bosom to still the 失望 at his heart.

"My friend," he said in a 発言する／表明する of pathos, "you work me up to a pitch of excitement most dangerous to the 老年の, and then you fling me 負かす／撃墜する with the thud of Lucifer 落ちるing from the skies! How could you! How could you!"

Even the Commissaire Herbesthal, who could make neither 長，率いる nor tail of Hanaud's 変化させるd moods, glared at Mr. Ricardo indignantly. Mr. Ricardo, however, stood his ground.

"You forget, Monsieur Hanaud. I saw Webster's light in this window. I saw him turn it out."

And at once Hanaud leaped to his feet.

"No, no, no! I 解任する your words. You saw the light flicker and go out. Yes, at the time when you used them, I thought the words were strange. Let us see now. If I turn out an electric light, it is out and at once I am in the dark. If a wire fuses, it is the same. But when an electric lamp nickers and goes out, it is because the bulb is exhausted. Let us see now!"

He switched on all the lights of the room one after another, and all of them 燃やすd brightly. He switched them off again, and in each 事例／患者 the light disappeared cleanly and はっきりと and instantaneously.

"You see!" he said.

He went 支援する to the third cupboard and from the third shelf he took the saucer and brought it 支援する to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"This is what you saw flicker and go out."

Herbesthal and Mr. Ricardo jostled each other in their haste to 診察する the saucer. At the 底（に届く） of it they saw a fragment of 黒人／ボイコット wick and a little patch of wax which had melted and congealed again.

"I don't understand," Mr. Ricardo stammered.

"Yet it is （疑いを）晴らす. My young friend Webster lights this candle and leaves it 燃やすing in the room, so that Mr. Ricardo, or anyone who looks this way, may say to himself: 'Oh, that industrious young man! What a treasure!' But the candle is of a 確かな length, so that at a moment which experience has 直す／買収する，八百長をするd, it will go out, and Mr. Ricardo, if he is still awake, will say: 'It is high time he went to sleep. Treasures must not 廃虚 their health. We do not 選ぶ them up in every hedge.'"

Now Mr. Ricardo had, indeed, argued in just that way, and he grew very red as he listened to this 解説，博覧会.

"But, 一方／合間, he is away. Yes, all very 罰金, but he forgets the nicker when the 炎上 fades and leaps up, and so goes out. Aha! This Monsieur Webster is an 利益／興味ing person. Where does he go when he leaves the candle 燃やすing? What does he do?"

Hanaud carefully 取って代わるd the saucer in its old position upon the shelf of the cupboard and の近くにd the door. In a small 休会 in the 塀で囲む at the 長，率いる of the bed some 調書をとる／予約するs were standing. Hanaud walked across to them and read the 肩書を与えるs aloud. It was the queerest collection of 調書をとる／予約するs for a man to keep at his 病人の枕元, and in Mr. Ricardo's opinion some of them were not at all likely to foster those nice thoughts which should …に出席する upon 落ちるing asleep.

"'The Diary of Casanova,'" Hanaud read out. "'The Ornaments of Ruysbroek, the Mystic,' 'Mademoiselle de Maupin,' 'The Imitatio Christi,' 'Urn Burial' and 'La Fille aux Yeux d'Or.' A very 利益／興味ing person, this Monsieur Webster! What a collection!"

He took the copy of "Mademoiselle de Maupin" into his 手渡すs and opened it at the 飛行機で行く-leaf.

"Yes," he said thoughtfully. '"コマドリ Webster.'"

He 取って代わるd the 調書をとる／予約する and took at 無作為の one of the 容積／容量s of Casanova. That, too, bore the 指名する of コマドリ Webster upon the 飛行機で行く-leaf. The binding of the third 調書をとる／予約する which he 除去するd from its shelf was more used than the other bindings; at which Mr. Ricardo was surprised. For it was "The Ornaments of Ruysbroek, the Mystic," and it seemed an ありそうもない 調書をとる／予約する to find in たびたび（訪れる） use in the bedroom of the 経営者／支配人 of a vineyard. Hanaud opened it. The sewing of the leaves even was loose, and the 飛行機で行く-leaf had disappeared altogether.

But Mr. Ricardo was now at Hanaud's 味方する, not looking over his shoulder—for that his stature 妨げるd him from doing —but peeping 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his 肘; and as Hanaud was の近くにing the 調書をとる／予約する he exclaimed in remonstrance at the 探偵，刑事's carelessness: "But, my friend, you don't notice things any more! How is this?"

"Tell me! Tell me quick!" cried Hanaud in a 発言する／表明する of anguish at all the mistakes which he was committing.

"The 飛行機で行く-leaf of that 調書をとる／予約する was not lost because it was loose. Not at all. It was 倍のd 支援する and creased and then neatly and deliberately 削減（する） out."

Hanaud's 発言する／表明する grew strong again.

"I did notice that. Yes, yes. Some 残余s of Hanaud's once terrific acumen are still alive. The 飛行機で行く-leaf has been 削減（する） out."

"But why?" Mr. Ricardo cried triumphantly. "It is obvious. コマドリ Webster has changed his 指名する."

"I wonder," Hanaud replied. He took 負かす／撃墜する the "Imitatio Christi." From that 調書をとる／予約する, too, the 飛行機で行く-leaf had been neatly 除去するd. He stood and 星／主役にするd at it for an appreciable time. Then he slowly 取って代わるd it and as slowly 観察するd: "There is another explanation. I like it the better of the two. For it explains to me something about コマドリ Webster which has been puzzling me all this day."

He 再開するd his searching, running through the drawers with the light touch of a woman and a swiftness which was all his own. An old chest remained, on the の近くにd lid of which lay heaped a 麻薬を吸う or two, a tennis ゆすり, a telephone 調書をとる／予約する, a 地図／計画する, an American magazine, the miscellanies which a man collects. Hanaud swept them aside and burrowed in the chest. A travelling-rug and a 激しい overcoat were 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd upon the 床に打ち倒す and then Hanaud stood up, 持つ／拘留するing in his 手渡すs a little cheap oblong box inlaid with mother-of-pearl. He shook the box and something within it 動揺させるd faintly. He tried the lid but it was locked 負かす／撃墜する, and he seated himself at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. The lock was as cheap as the box. Hanaud took from his pocket a bunch of tiny steel 器具／実施するs on a （犯罪の）一味. He selected a forceps and in a trice the box was open.

"Oho!" he said, and he shook out on to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する some eight or ten letters—if letters they could be called. For even to the 注目する，もくろむs of Mr. Ricardo, on the other 味方する of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, they had the 外見 of 公式文書，認めるs, most of them in pencil and all scribbled off in a hurry. Hanaud read them quickly, and his 直面する changed.

"Aha!" he said slowly, and looking up he nodded at Mr. Ricardo in 確定／確認 of some suggestion which he had made.

"Yes, yes!" said Hanaud, which was pleasant for Mr. Ricardo as far as it went. But since Mr. Ricardo was not 許すd to see even the 署名 to the letters, it did not go very far. Hanaud 取って代わるd the letters in the box and turned to Moreau.

"These must be photographed—now. It will be a 事柄 of a few minutes for you."

"I'll fetch my camera and the little board to keep them flat," said Moreau, making for the door.

But he was 解任するd. "No. Our friend the—" and Hanaud pulled himself up short. "Our friend, Mr. コマドリ, might hop in and make us leave the work unfinished. Better take them to our room, photograph them as quickly as you can and bring them 支援する, if you're in time. If you're not, so much the worse for you. We keep the box and hope that its 見えなくなる will not be discovered too soon."

He spoke confidently enough, but he was certainly on the "テント-hook" during Moreau's absence. He walked backwards and 今後s between the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and the window, peering up the avenue, searching again some corner which he had already searched and betraying every 調印する of impatience. Finally he sat 負かす／撃墜する again at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and 倍のd his 手渡すs.

"Why does a man keep letters from a woman in a locked box?" he asked suddenly. "Can you tell me that?"

Julius Ricardo smiled. The answer was obvious. "Because he is in love," he replied. "You will remember that I saw him leaning 今後 over the 支援する of a 議長，司会を務める. And my 観察 was 確認するd by his 爆発 this morning when we discovered that Joyce Whipple had 消えるd."

Hanaud looked curiously at Mr. Ricardo.

"Then those letters, 公式文書，認めるs, fragments of 令状ing—call them what you will—were from Joyce Whipple?" he asked.

"I did not need to see the 署名s you so carefully 隠すd to be aware of that, my friend," said Mr. Ricardo in gentle reproach.

Hanaud turned 突然の to Herbesthal.

"And you, Monsieur Le Commissaire? Why does a man keep letters from a lady in a locked box? Do you say the same? Is it because he is in love?"

"Probably," replied the Commissaire with a shrug of the shoulders.

"井戸／弁護士席, it may be," said Hanaud doubtfully. "But again I say there is another explanation, and I like it the better of the two."

Moreau returned to the room as he spoke with the inlaid box in his 手渡すs. "It is done," he said.

Hanaud sprang up, relocked the box with his forceps, and stowed it away in its hiding-place. "Good!" he said, his 直面する beaming with 救済. "Let us go now! For the モーター-car—I give it the 許可 to return!"

And the three men 出発／死d from the chalet and returned to the terrace.

CHAPTER 11. — FOOTSTEPS

HANAUD was やめる genuinely relieved to find himself once more upon the open terrace of the Ch穰eau Suvlac. He laughed in a low, 静かな rumble of a 発言する／表明する which to Mr. Ricardo sounded peculiarly alarming. He nodded at Ricardo with a gleaming 注目する，もくろむ.

"You have a poem. I know him. He is a very 罰金 poem. Life is real, life is earnest, and the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な is certainly somebody's goal. Yes, I am of a pleasant humour. For we are nearer to the truth. Now we will see what it is that our excellent gendarme there is guarding for our 査察."

He descended the steps and crossed the lawn to the circular flower-bed. Mr. Ricardo could now see that the 反対するs which had puzzled him were three dishes of brown earthenware, 転覆するd one upon the grass 縁 of the circle and the other two upon the mould of the bed itself. The gendarme standing 近づく to the dishes saluted.

"It was you who discovered these 示すs?" Hanaud asked genially.

"Yes, monsieur. Monsieur Le Commissaire ordered me to look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the garden. When I discovered the 示すs I ran at once to the kitchen for the dishes to cover them."

"Yes, that was a good idea," said Hanaud with a smile of 是認.

"But I had some difficulty in collecting them, monsieur."

Hanaud nodded sympathetically. "Marianne," he said, and warmed by his 是認 the gendarme lost something of his rigidity. He puffed out his cheeks.

"She is a prodigious woman, monsieur, if she is a woman at all. She boxed my ears, monsieur. I had the dishes in my 手渡すs. She dared me to 減少（する） them, and boxed my ears again. You understand, monsieur, that I was helpless. She said—but, 容赦 me, it would be an impertinence to repeat what she said."

"You shall certainly repeat what she said," Hanaud 主張するd. "There are no ladies 現在の." The gendarme blushed under his k駱i.

"Oh, it wasn't an impertinence of that 肉親，親類d. No, it was worse."

"にもかかわらず, repeat it."

"She said: 'And if you don't like my boxes on the ear, you rascal, you can pass them on to your precious Monsieur Hanaud, of whom I think nothing at all."

The Commissaire Herbesthal was shocked, but Hanaud's 直面する 拡大するd in a grin.

"I have an inclination に向かって Marianne," said he. "井戸／弁護士席, you got the dish-covers and 始める，決める them here. Yes?"

"Then I 設立する Monsieur Le Commissaire and he ordered me to keep watch so that nothing should be 乱すd."

"Good! Has anyone come about this flower-bed as if he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 乱す it?"

"No, monsieur."

"That's not so good," said Hanaud. "Now you shall tell me your 指名する, so that I may have it to 耐える in mind. Then you shall 暴露する one by one those 示すs on the ground."

For a second time the gendarme coloured with 楽しみ.

"For my 指名する, monsieur, it is Corbie—勝利者 Corbie, at monsieur's service. For the 示すs, look!"

He knelt 負かす／撃墜する and 除去するd the dish from the 縁 of the grass about the flower-bed. Where it had lain the turf was broken, and just by the 味方する of it in the mould but at the very 辛勝する／優位 was the imprint of a small foot, wearing a pointed shoe with a high heel.

"Yes," said Mr. Ricardo, agreeing with himself. "At that point a woman's foot has slipped."

勝利者 Corbie, ひさまづくing upon the ground, was able to reach to the second dish on the slope of the flower-bed. He 解除するd it and 公表する／暴露するd yet another 足跡. Mr. Ricardo 診察するd it from the place where he stood.

"That imprint was made by the same woman," he 宣言するd.

"You will notice, however, that it was made by the left foot, 反して this one on the 辛勝する／優位 of the bed was made by the 権利 foot," said Hanaud.

"I やめる agree, my dear Hanaud," said Mr. Ricardo. "Yes, I agree."

The Commissaire Herbesthal, who from time to time during the last hour had been 星／主役にするing at Mr. Ricardo, and from Mr. Ricardo to Hanaud in a maze of wonder, was now 完全に at a loss as to which 部類 or department of men he belonged to. Hanaud, on the other 手渡す, was a picture of delight.

"I am so glad that you agree," he said.

He nodded to 勝利者 Corbie, who hurried 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the circle of the flower-bed and 除去するd the third dish. This was nearer to the house, and, since the imprints pointed に向かって the river and away from the house, it was behind the other two. The 示す which it 公表する／暴露するd was the imprint of a foot, too but of a man's foot shod in a big nailed boot. Yet the imprint was shallower. Mr. Ricardo, however, was not deterred by 観察s of any subtlety. He 宣言するd boldly:

"It is obvious that a woman fled and that a man 追求するd her."

Hanaud, however, was not at that moment 支払う／賃金ing the homage to Mr. Ricardo's 声明s which he so often paid. He did not, indeed, seem to hear this one at all. He said:

"I think the first thing to do is to discover which one of the young ladies at the Ch穰eau Suvlac ran across the flower-bed last night, if it was last night and not the night before that she ran across the flower-bed. 勝利者 Corbie, you shall help me."

"I think the first thing to do is to discover which one
of the young ladies ran across the flower-bed last night."

He hurried 支援する to the house, disappeared into the turret bedroom of Diana Tasborough, and いっそう少なく than a couple of minutes afterwards 再現するd at the window of the 製図／抽選-room. 勝利者 Corbie followed him. He ran 支援する to the flower-bed, and Corbie dropped on the grass beside him three pairs of the gay 肉親，親類d of evening slippers which ladies use. There was a pair of brocaded satin shoes belonging to Evelyn Devenish which were a shade too large, another pair belonging to Diana Tasborough which were a shade too 幅の広い and short, and a pair of silver ones belonging to Joyce Whipple which fitted 正確に／まさに.

"It is （疑いを）晴らす then," said Hanaud, rising from his 膝s. "Someone wearing the slippers of Joyce Whipple ran across this lawn, slipped in the dark on the 辛勝する／優位 of the flower-bed, 工場／植物d her left foot 十分な in the mould and sprang across to the grass upon the other 味方する. Yes—but"—and he turned the shoes over in his 手渡す—"it was not in these delicate trifles that she ran. They have walked upon carpets, perhaps upon the terrace, but they did not 急落（する），激減（する） across the flower-bed last night."

There was not, as they could all see, a trace of discoloration upon the 罰金 kid or the heels. Not a shred of the mould clung to them. The arches of the insteps were as they （機の）カム new from the shoemaker, the flat of the 単独のs hardly tinged.

"These are the shoes which were left kicked here and there by Joyce Whipple in her haste last night, when she flung them off and changed her 着せる／賦与するs."

Hanaud turned to Corbie as he spoke and 手渡すd him 支援する the three pairs of shoes.

"Run, my friend, and 取って代わる these quickly in the cupboard of Mademoiselle Diana from which we took them. Then do the same with the shoes of that unhappy Madame Devenish. Those of Joyce Whipple we will take along with us."

Hanaud watched Corbie run off upon his errand with more 苦悩 than his consideration for the feelings of the young ch穰elaine of Suvlac would seem to 正当化する. Mr. Ricardo began to tremble for her, for he had seen Hanaud at work before, and remembered that he was never so delicate and 肉親，親類d as just before he pounced. Corbie, indeed, had not 横断するd more than half of the space between the flower-bed and the house, when at last the whirr of a モーター-car grew loud and stopped. Hanaud 不平（をいう）d out an 誓い under his breath.

"I didn't want that," he muttered, and then, raising his 発言する／表明する: "Run, Corbie, run!"

He waited thus in suspense until Corbie 消えるd into the turret-room. Nor did he take his 注目する，もくろむs from the terrace until he saw the gendarme again running に向かって them from the direction of the avenue.

"井戸／弁護士席?" he asked quickly as Corbie reached his 味方する. "Those two have returned, then?"

"No," Corbie returned "It is that the news of this 災害 has spread. It was the car of some 隣人s who have come to leave their cards and 弔慰s."

Hanaud's 態度 relaxed. A 広大な／多数の／重要な 救済 lightened his 直面する.

"Good! Moreau, my friend, you shall get your plaster and make some casts of these pretty little footsteps at once. As for that big fellow, we shall see! Corbie, will you continue to run, but this time to the ch臺s and find for me the gardener. If he is not there he will be working amongst the vines."

現実に, the gardener, a hulking, big, clumsy fellow with a good-humoured 直面する as red as a 熟した apple, was superintending the 除去 of the grapes from the little carts on to the tray of the 圧力（をかける）. He （機の）カム 支援する with Corbie, and Hanaud, who was again upon his 膝s at the 国境 of the flower-bed, without looking up at the gardener said the most 予期しない thing.

"So after all it did rain."

"Yes, monsieur," the man answered. "Just what we 手配中の，お尋ね者, a soft gentle 落ちる which lasted 刻々と for two hours. The year will after all be a good year."

"That's admirable," Hanaud commented in an absent 発言する／表明する. "And at what hour did the rain begin?"

"At midnight, monsieur, or a few minutes afterwards."

Hanaud looked up alertly. "You are やめる sure? It's of an importance."

The gardener laughed. "Oh, monsieur. I should not be likely to make a mistake. Consider! We each of us have our little patch of vines. Two hours of rain last night would make all the difference in our grapes. Instead of 存在 shrivelled, they would be 十分な. There was not a labourer in this 地区 who slept 井戸／弁護士席 last night, I'll 令状. From midnight until two in the morning. Yes, monsieur, a 罰金 small-rain—God's 宗教上の water for the vines."

The 熱烈な 感謝 of the man and the ありふれた sense of his argument were 納得させるing. "Very 井戸／弁護士席, then! It rained from twelve to two. That is （疑いを）晴らす," said Hanaud.

"（疑いを）晴らす as the night was afterwards, monsieur, （疑いを）晴らす and dark," the gardener went on, all in one 発言する／表明する. "And as for the 示す of my 広大な／多数の／重要な boot on the flower-bed which monsieur 診察するs with so much care, it does not bring me within the 刑法."

Hanaud made a grimace at Mr. Ricardo of a very undignified 肉親，親類d. "So it is your footstep?"

"Yes, monsieur, very sure."

"Show me!" The gardener 工場／植物d his foot in the shallow imprint. It fitted 正確に／まさに.

"You made it—when?" Hanaud asked.

"Yesterday, monsieur. I should have 捨てるd it over this morning, but for these two or three days the garden must look after itself."

"Thank you! That's all."

"I may go 支援する to the ch臺s, monsieur?"

"I even 招待する you to," said Hanaud, and the gardener went with a clumsy sort of amble. 一方／合間 Hanaud grinned maliciously at his friend Ricardo. "Ahahahaha! What of this 罰金 story of a flight and a 追跡?"

Mr. Ricardo blushed. He was aware that the Commissaire was watching him with an embarrassing inquisitiveness. He lost his 長，率いる altogether and 開始する，打ち上げるd a 破滅的な 告訴，告発.

"It was the gardener, then, who 追求するd Joyce Whipple," he 宣言するd.

"Ah!" cried Hanaud with an exuberant delight as he rose from his 膝s. "Now we have it then. We gum ourselves to our 大砲s. Our mysteries are solved. Homage to Mr. Ricardo, the 操る!" He swept off his 幅の広い-brimmed soft felt hat and 屈服するd to the ground. "Yes, it was the gardener. 行方不明になる Whipple—she runs away after the rain has fallen—for see the 深い 示すs which she makes with her little shoes!—the gardener —he starts after her the day before she runs away— for see the shallower 示すs his 激しい アイロンをかける-nailed boots make in the 乾燥した，日照りの 国／地域. You see? He must catch her up. He does not run so 急速な／放蕩な as she—the clumsy fellow, but if he starts to 追求する her a day before she 飛行機で行くs—even he in the end must come up with her. Quick! The thumb-screws for the gardener, and in a moment we know all."

Nothing could be in more deplorable taste than this 展示 of ribaldry. It was Hanaud at his worst. It was Hanaud pouncing upon the 団体／死体 of his friend, like a gleeful buffalo. It left Mr. Ricardo tongue-tied and spluttering. "I shall make no rejoinder," he gasped at length.

"It is better so," the Commissaire Herbesthal agreed.

Happily Hanaud's mood changed very quickly. He （機の）カム 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to the 味方する of the bed where the other four men were standing. He looked at the little footsteps and from the footsteps 支援する to the glass door of the turret-room.

"Consider how I am puzzled," he said. "At some time after two o'clock in the morning, Joyce Whipple runs in 広大な／多数の／重要な haste across the lawn, 失敗s into the flower-bed and goes on. I 直す／買収する，八百長をする the time, because the 足跡s are so exact and （疑いを）晴らす. It was certainly after the rain had been 落ちるing for some time and had made the mould soft and—is there a word?— cohesive. It was almost certainly after the rain had 中止するd, さもなければ those （疑いを）晴らす imprints would be spotted and blurred. 井戸／弁護士席, then! At half-past two someone flicks past the library window, 消えるs into Mademoiselle Tasborough's room, locks the door, and waits in a panic with fingers ready upon the electric-light switch. I ask myself, was Joyce Whipple indeed 追求するd —and caught by someone"—and he dropped the next words slowly one by one—"who had the 権利 of 入ること／参加（者） into 行方不明になる Tasborough's room?"

There could be no 疑問 as to whom Hanaud was 示唆するing. But Mr. Ricardo could not reconcile the suggestion with the little clamour of grief which broke from コマドリ Webster when Joyce Whipple's 見えなくなる was discovered. But for the moment he had had enough of 前進するing theories and making explanations. Moreover, he saw Hanaud looking at him with a very troubled 空気／公表する.

"After all, were you 権利, my friend? Did something terrible happen in this garden just before you stole to the library for a 調書をとる／予約する?"

"No cry was heard," said the Commissaire.

"That is true," Hanaud agreed, "and on a still night a cry would have been heard a long way off. Yes!" He stood with a look of 不快 upon his 直面する for a few moments and then shrugged his big shoulders. "Let us follow the line of these footsteps. They cannot lead us into a worse 絡まる than we're in already."

He left Moreau to 注ぐ a liquid plaster into the imprints, and, with Corbie carrying Joyce Whipple's shoes, went on. Mr. Ricardo noticed that the line he took began at the turret door and led diagonally across the garden to the flower-bed. Beyond the flower-bed it ran に向かって the river, passing just under the 支店s of the last trees of the avenue. Hanaud walked along slowly with his 注目する，もくろむs upon the ground and his tongue 不平（をいう）ing.

"Women used to be helpful when I was a young man. They wore pins—pins in their hair and pins in their 着せる／賦与するs— and they dropped them everywhere the moment they began to run about. Ah!" and he stopped to point to the little 穴を開ける made by a high heel, and went on again: "They wore skirts too, which caught in things and left a bit behind. Now they've got their 着せる／賦与するs made like gloves and—oh!"—he had discovered another を刺す in the grass from a 狭くする heel. "We're on the 権利 line, anyway"; and under the boughs of the trees at the end of the avenue he （機の）カム to a 限定された 停止（させる）.

His companions stopped beside him, and without a word he pointed to the ground. Underneath the boughs, the turf was softer than in the open. The sun could not bake it, and the trees dripped upon it long after the rain had 中止するd. And in this stretch of damp and 産する／生じるing grass the two small 足跡s were 完全に 明白な again, but 味方する by 味方する and の近くに together, as if something just at this point had brought the 逃亡者／はかないもの to a stop and held her there stunned.

"Yes, she was startled here and stopped dead, suddenly," said Hanaud. "Corbie, young man, make it sure for us."

Corbie knelt 負かす／撃墜する and stood up the glittering slippers in the 跡をつけるs, and again they fitted 正確に／まさに; and not one of those who watched but had a （疑いを）晴らす swift 見通し which appalled them. The 見通し of a girl 逃げるing in terror and 逮捕（する）d in 十分な flight and standing in the dark under the boughs, her feet 圧力（をかける）d together, her 団体／死体 緊張した with 恐れる, her heart ぱたぱたするing and fainting in her breast and a cry just checked upon her lips.

Hanaud took his stand just behind the 足跡s and looked 今後. He was looking straight に向かって the little ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる which had been 建設するd at the river-味方する. Mr. Ricardo uttered a cry. "Of course! Of course! The gabare!"

Hanaud turned upon him in a flash.

"The gabare which serves the ch穰eau from Bordeaux, La Belle Simone. It was here in its harbour yesterday with 蓄える／店s. It was to start on its return voyage with the change of the tide in the 早期に morning at six. Yes, I talked with the captain yesterday afternoon—at six. Joyce Whipple was running for 聖域 to the gabare."

"Then why did she stop here beneath the trees, at half-past two?" Hanaud asked of him, but now 熱望して, without a trace of irony or ridicule in his 発言する／表明する.

Mr. Ricardo was not at a loss for an explanation. "She saw the 政治家 of the mast against the sky, perhaps a lantern too, swinging in the 船の索具. From here to the harbour a few strides. She knew that she was 安全な."

Mr. Ricardo's 発言する／表明する 明らかにする／漏らすd the immensity of his 救済. He had a very strong wish that no 害（を与える） should come to the warm-hearted and 極端に decorative young lady who had 注ぐd out to him her 逮捕s for her friend on a summer night in London. She was 安全な—that was the 有罪の判決 which 元気づけるd him —安全な on the gabare, and by this time very 近づく to its mooring against the quay at Bordeaux. But Hanaud did not 株 his 有罪の判決s. He stood in a moody silence with his lips pursed and his forehead all wrinkled in a frown.

"That man won't believe anything unless he has discovered it himself," Mr. Ricardo 反映するd, irritated, and at the same time disappointed. For if Hanaud disbelieved, he might have a 推論する／理由 for 不信.

"Let us see!" said Hanaud. "I 招待する you all to stand 正確に／まさに where you are."

He went on alone, more slowly than ever and searching the ground with even a greater 審議. At every step he took Ricardo 推定する／予想するd an 招待 to go 今後. 非，不，無 （機の）カム. Hanaud continued his examination to the dockside, and there he stayed a long time, running backwards and 今後s. Then throwing up his 手渡すs in a gesture of discouragement, he hurried 支援する.

"She stopped here!" he said, pointing to the shoes, 工場／植物d 味方する by 味方する. "Beyond not a 示す. By the 味方する of the harbour there is muddy gravel where at high tide the water has splashed over. There if anywhere there would be 足跡s to match those. But there's not a trace of them. 激しい shoes bound with アイロンをかける —yes, but those slips of things—no! Mademoiselle Joyce Whipple went no nearer to the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる than this 位置／汚点／見つけ出す on which we stand. Wait."

He cast about first に向かって the marshy ground and the river, and then under the trees. A 幅の広い gravel path ran 負かす／撃墜する the middle of the avenue and, 狭くするing to いっそう少なく than half its width at the end, curved off to the 権利 に向かって the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる. Just where the turf met the gravel path he （機の）カム across the 足跡s again. He 召喚するd his companions to him with a gesture. The 権利 foot was pointing に向かって the path and was on the 辛勝する／優位 of the turf. The left foot was drawn 支援する behind it and pointed に向かって the tiny harbour, the two imprints making an obtuse angle.

"We can read the story a little more 明確に now," he said. "That young girl—she runs from the house in a panic across the lawn. Her 脅すd 注目する，もくろむs are ちらりと見ることing 支援する continually over her shoulder, and she 失敗s into the flower-bed, she crosses it, she continues to run until something startles her, paralyses her. She 回復するs and turns aside to the cover of the trees, running now, oh, so lightly—on the tips of her toes, her feet skimming the grass. Once under the 避難所 of the 支店s, she 停止（させる）s, for the moment 安全な・保証する, and stands 会社／堅い, but looking 支援する—yes—looking に向かって the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる." He put his hypothesis to the best proof he could think of. Taking care not to 乱す the 示すs upon the grass, he 行為／法令／行動するd the movements which he had been 述べるing. And when he 停止（させる）d, his feet fell 自然に into 正確に the same angle as that made by the 足跡s of Joyce Whipple.

"Yes," he repeated with a greater 保証／確信, "she looked again and for some time in the direction of the harbour—to make sure of—what?"

All sorts of grim pictures rose before Mr. Ricardo's 注目する，もくろむs. Perhaps she had seen dimly the basket put 船内に the gabare, and had somehow guessed the horror which it hid. Perhaps she had seen Evelyn Devenish 殺人d and her 手渡す chopped off 残酷に with an axe. He had a 見通し of the patron and his two sons obeying the relentless 命令（する）s of—But before Ricardo could 直す／買収する，八百長をする upon the 身元 of the 指揮官, a little cry of 勝利 broke from Hanaud's lips. He stood gazing out over the river, he, too, stunned, but by an inspiration not a panic.

"Very sure!" he exclaimed, his 発言する／表明する gusty with excitement, "very sure!" He ran 支援する to the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where the shoes gleamed 味方する by 味方する upon the grass, and stood behind them. "You shall tell me I grow old," he shouted to Ricardo. "Yes, yes! That poor Hanaud! His brains are all wool and cherry-jam! It must be so! Ohoho!"

It was almost as much to stop the わいせつ of Hanaud's ostentation as to gratify his curiosity that Mr. Ricardo felt it necessary to interrupt.

"Shall we take it for 認めるd that all the bouquets are now thrown and get on with our 商売／仕事?" he 示唆するd a trifle acidly, and Hanaud 屈服するd to the ground.

"We shall do just what milor' wishes. We shall hope to 満足させる milor. We are milor's servants. Milor', the carriage waits," and he 捨てるd and grimaced like a boy in the gutter. Certainly, Mr. Ricardo 反映するd, Hanaud was insufferable in his moments of elation. Happily they did not on this occasion last long. He slipped out of his motley.

"It was not what Joyce Whipple saw that held her here and 始める，決める the chains about her feet. No, my friend. It was what she didn't see. She runs straight as a stretched cord from the house to the gabare. Her chance of 聖域—yes, no 疑問. And suddenly here, at the end of the avenue, the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる's in 見解（をとる）. There is no gabare. It has put out."

"Before its time?"

"Yes."

"And against the tide?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Can't we all make a guess?" Hanaud answered 厳粛に, and had no need to be more explicit. The two boys playing by the river in the 早期に morning, the basket with its 悲劇の 負担 gently 激しく揺するing upon the ripples of the water and slowly washing nearer and nearer to the bank nine miles nearer to the sea—those particulars returned to the memory of Hanaud's audience and 申し込む／申し出d a 推論する／理由 for the precipitate 出発 of the gabare to which no one could be blind.

"Mr. Ricardo," Hanaud continued 厳粛に, "it is said in all your treatises and 調書をとる／予約するs that there is one 広大な／多数の／重要な difference between the police of England and the police of フラン. Where you 慎重に proceed from fact to fact, we overleap the facts and 信用 to intuitions. 井戸／弁護士席, certainly I 信用 one now. Here she stood, that young lady, whilst her heart ぱたぱたするd 負かす／撃墜する in despair. Then she turns. She must 捜し出す some other 避難. She runs for the avenue where the trees will hide her; and as she reaches it, she stops and casts one look 支援する に向かって the port. Perhaps, after all, her 注目する，もくろむs misled her. Perhaps, after all, the 政治家 of the mast is 輪郭（を描く）d against the sky. But, no! And she is off!"

He made a sweep with his arm に向かって the gravel path. Mr. Ricardo himself was carried away by the 有罪の判決 and the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 of his friend. He did not 疑問 that his was the real true explanation. Joyce Whipple had flown in terror up that avenue. He began to piece together the facts which he knew with this conjecture of which he was 確信して; and suddenly such a 負担 of 悔恨 屈服するd him 負かす／撃墜する that all his companions were 関心d for him. He turned pale, he stood trembling, a man aghast.

"What is it?" asked Hanaud, running to his 味方する and supporting him by the arm. "You are ill? No, no!"

"No, I am not ill. I am ashamed," Mr. Ricardo stammered. "You see, it might have been Joyce Whipple who whipped past me on the terrace—after she had fled from here up the avenue. Suppose that it was! Suppose that it was she who slipped into the turret-room! Suppose that for some 推論する／理由 we don't know the room was empty when she did! Suppose that it was Joyce who locked the door and waited in terror with her fingers on the switch! Suppose that after she had turned the light out, she crept upstairs to her room! You remember the 宙返り／暴落するd bed and the question you asked: 'Was she taken away from that room against her will?' 井戸／弁護士席, then—I could have saved her. Yes, I could. I had but to come straight out of the library on to the terrace when she flashed past, and show her who I was."

"She would not have waited to see," argued Hanaud.

"I might have spoken through the glass door after the light went out. But I didn't! I let her think that I was one of the hunters.—I was nervous and—" He broke off suddenly and stood 築く. "Nervous! No! I was afraid. I could have saved Joyce last night, but I was afraid."

Mr. Ricardo's 爆発 made everyone uncomfortable. Hanaud patted him gently on the shoulder.

"But Joyce—she is not lost yet," he said.

Mr. Ricardo would not be consoled. In a minute or two he would have made a 高級な out of his cowardice, but happily Corbie, the gendarme, at this moment discovered yet another perplexity to 追加する to this 絡まるd 事件／事情／状勢.

"Monsieur Hanaud," he cried, his 注目する，もくろむs starting out of his 長，率いる and his 発言する／表明する one hoarse 公式文書，認める of excitement. "Look! Look!"

He was standing in the open space at the end of the avenue, a few yards from the others of that party, and with an outstretched shaking arm, he pointed to the lower 支店s of a tree.

CHAPTER 12. — THE MASK

THE cry had a sound so imperative that the delicate question of Mr. Ricardo's 行為／行う was clean forgotten. There was a 急ぐ to 勝利者 Corbie, but not until they stood behind his shoulders could they see what he was seeing. The sight gave a queer little shock to everyone and begat an uneasiness as things which are 半端物 and bizarre are apt to do. Perhaps, too, they were all now rather ready to be startled and to see 奇蹟s at each turn of their road. They were confounded to 観察する amongst the leaves of the 支店 at which Corbie pointed, bending 負かす／撃墜する に向かって them as though it watched them, a 直面する and 長，率いる. By some chance a spray had blown across the 注目する，もくろむs and hid them, but the 残り／休憩（する） of the 直面する was 明らかにする／漏らすd. It was やめる livid in colour with 十分な lips, not so much red in colour as a dark purple. The hair, on the other 手渡す, was a 有望な red. The contour of the 直面する was やめる beautiful, but the whole 影響 was evil— abominably evil.

Terror-struck, they stood and 星／主役にするd at a 直面する, a 長，率いる, that bent 負かす／撃墜する toward
them, half-hidden by 支店s. It was a thing of horror, and panic 掴むd them.

They were still 熟視する／熟考するing this 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の spectacle when some breath of 勝利，勝つd blew aside the spray which hid the 注目する，もくろむs; and it was at once 明白な that though there were long 黒人／ボイコット eyelashes, as silken as the 攻撃するs of a lovely girl, there were no 注目する，もくろむs. The 直面する was a mask, but of an artistry which was exquisite and astounding.

"We must have that 負かす／撃墜する," said Hanaud.

勝利者 Corbie dropped his kepi on the ground, and with a grin of delight overspreading his bucolic 直面する, slipped the mask over his 直面する and 長，率いる; and at once from a good-humoured, grinning yokel, he became a thing of horror, a thing to 飛行機で行く from in a panic. Mr. Ricardo could not believe that so 完全にする a 変形 was possible. The mask, 直す／買収する，八百長をするd though the features were, lived—yes, lived. The 有望な red hair gave to it a final touch of uncanny 軍隊. Whichever way Corbie turned, the mask never leered. On the contrary, it was beautiful and very sad —the long 黒人／ボイコット 罰金 攻撃するs gave to even Corbie's 星／主役にするing 注目する，もくろむs the sadness of all the ages. It would have been a fit mask for the Wandering Jew, but for one せいにする it had. It was wicked—beautiful and sad and abominably wicked—a mask, in a word, for Satan. Such was its 影響 that, even when Corbie had 除去するd it from his 長，率いる, one at all events of the men watching him wondered for a time whether he was not some demon masquerading as a 小作農民 who had vouchsafed him a glimpse of his real 面.

"We shall take 広大な／多数の／重要な care of this mask, Monsieur Le Commissaire," Hanaud said, wrapping it up in a 広大な／多数の／重要な coloured handkerchief which he pulled from his pocket. "There are only two men in the world, I think, who can make such masks as this. One of them is in America. The other is to be 設立する in a studio in the 支援する of the Haymarket in London. We shall soon know which of them made this, and for whom. 一方／合間, I beg that no one will speak of it." He looked from 直面する to 直面する to impress his 命令（する） upon them all, and continued with a 静かな solemnity which Mr. Ricardo had only once or twice heard him use before: "For this 罪，犯罪 of the Ch穰eau Suvlac has, I think, a good 取引，協定 in ありふれた with this mask. I mean, that when all at last is discovered, we shall find it to have been an 残忍な and malignant 商売／仕事. It was pitiless, I believe. So we, in our turn, shall be pitiless too." Mr. Ricardo shivered.

CHAPTER 13. — DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW

HANAUD gave an order to the gendarme. "You will take those shoes and 包む them up and 手渡す them over to the 長官 of Monsieur Le Commissaire. Then you will tell my assistant when he has finished with the flower-bed to take a cast of these 足跡s too and cover them up."

Corbie 選ぶd up the slippers and hurried off upon his 義務 up the avenue. The 残り／休憩（する） of the search-party followed at a slower pace.

They had come to within twenty yards of the house when a smallish, 一連の会議、交渉／完成する man in a cassock with a purple sash about his waist stepped out from the window of the 製図／抽選-room and looked carefully about him. There was something curiously secret in his and turning about scanned the upper windows of the two turrets. 保証するd that no one was watching him from those points of vantage, he moved along the 石／投石する 旗s in the direction of the avenue, but slowly, with his 注目する，もくろむs bent on the ground like a man pondering an abstraction. When, however, his pacing had brought him opposite to the glass door of the dining-room, he became all at once 警報 again. He peered into the room, raising himself up on the balls of his feet so that he might see the better, and then, crossing the terrace with a little noiseless, tripping run,

"He arrived before you and your friend returned from Villeblanche. He asked my 許可 very 正確に to 申し込む／申し出 his ministrations to the ladies. It is true that the ladies are Protestants, but in such calamities, the creeds are one."

"You gave him the 許可?" Hanaud 観察するd softly.

There is a 欠陥 here, Mr. Ricardo 反映するd. It was 明白に

"Did he see Diana Tasborough in her own room in the turret there?" he asked of the Commissaire, but without taking his 注目する，もくろむs for one moment from the terrace.

"Certainly."

"And now he returns to it when it is empty. Yes, as my friend 避難所 in a flash. In spite of his 本体，大部分／ばら積みの, he sprinted. He reached the terrace almost before his companions had started. He ran across it noiseless as a man in rubber shoes, keeping の近くに to the windows of the house. In the angle made by the 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 発射／推定 of the turret, he stopped. He certainly had not been mottled, and his nose and the 肌 beneath his 注目する，もくろむs like tallow. His 直面する in a second seemed to have sunk and grown thin. He was an old and shrivelled man. But he had the spirit of a young one. He raised his 長，率いる high, and now in place of the びっくり仰天 there was the glint of 戦う／戦い in his 注目する，もくろむs. He stood square; and then, turning わずかに に向かって the Commissary Herbesthal, he said in a biting 発言する／表明する; "This, no 疑問, is the illustrious Monsieur Hanaud, who very wisely speaks in riddles. For riddles are the short 削減（する） to prestige and 評判, and, besides, very 脅迫してさせるing to slow-witted 地方のs like ourselves."

It was a 宣言 of war—no いっそう少なく than that. Mr. Ricardo, 観察するing the little priest and the big 探偵，刑事, should understand it, as you evidently did," said Hanaud, "you should be thankful for my consideration, rather than 非難する it. But since you won't have my riddles, I ask you now in the plainest 条件 why you went into mademoiselle's room just now with so many 警戒s against 存在 seen?"

"I shall reply to you that I have my 義務s, as you have yours, Monsieur Hanaud. 地雷, it is true, may be said to begin after yours have ended. But they are both sad and exacting and —secret. Should you, however, wish for a poor priest's blessing upon yours, whatever they may be," he 追加するd with a hint of humour, "I shall not be 性質の／したい気がして to 否定する it you." He moved away with a little 屈服する, but Hanaud pivoted upon his heels like a 兵士, and fell in at his 味方する with the neatness of a cog "I catch the 犯罪の first, and you save his soul afterwards.

"Thousands of 義務s, Monsieur Hanaud. I have preached for thirty years, but I have not got to the end of them yet."

"One, however, which is 最高位の."

The little priest saw the 一打／打撃 coming.

"I am aware of it, Monsieur Hanaud."

"The 義務 of a good 国民."

"You have said it."

"And under the 圧力 of that third 義務, one or two separate 義務s at times may overlap."

The two men were pacing 味方する by 味方する away from the Commissaire

"Any argument of yours, Monsieur Hanaud, must of course 命令（する） every 原子 of consideration which I have to give," he said with a curling lip; and Hanaud was under his guard in a flash.

"My argument is an instance, monsieur. For example, there is night. I am ashamed, and I have 任命するd to myself 確かな penances in consequence. My vestments were hanging in my sacristy this morning and were worn by me as 早期に as six o'clock, when to a deplorable congregation of two old women, I sought the blessing permitted to cultivate a spirit 肉親，親類d enough to believe that they had never been taken away."

"That won't do," said Hanaud bluntly. The two men were standing 直面する to 直面する, the priest 避難所ing what knowledge he had behind a stolid 直面する, Hanaud 非常に高い over him, like an Villeblanche stained with the 血 of a young woman who dined at the same （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with you in this house last night, and was savagely 殺人d afterwards."

Mr. Ricardo could hardly repress a cry, as he comprehended the

"You are sure of that abomination?" he stammered, and he did not wait for an answer to his question. His defences were 負かす／撃墜する. He had no big fat 石／投石する and no sling to 開始する，打ち上げる it with. He tottered to the （法廷の）裁判 and, dropping 負かす／撃墜する upon it ひどく, fumbled for his handkerchief and mopped his forehead. But Hanaud would terrible 罪，犯罪 has been committed. Of that 罪，犯罪 there may be some やめる hideous explanation. You know more about it than I do. I beg you to excuse me."

To Hanaud's thinking he was a broken man. He had 苦しむd a gone, Hanaud's manner やめる changed. He grimaced in the most childish fashion at the window.

"Ah, the old fox," he cried in a low 発言する／表明する. "He knows a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 more than he will tell. But he has told me, 非，不，無 the いっそう少なく, much more than he meant to tell me, by his 不本意 to tell me talking—had made a little movement with his 手渡す— yes!

"There was a moment when under the cover of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する-cloth he made the 調印する of the Cross," said Mr. Ricardo.

"Oho! Tell me about that moment!" Hanaud 勧めるd, 圧力（をかける）ing his friend's arm.

"Let me see!" said Mr. Ricardo. "It can hardly have been important or I should have remembered it. Oh, yes! I was puzzled at the time. I certainly was puzzled."

"It is very 利益／興味ing that you were puzzled," Hanaud 発言／述べるd 根気よく.

"Yes, that's it. I was puzzled." Mr. Ricardo was 勝利を得た. His memory had not failed him. No; he remembered very 正確に that he had been puzzled.

"Then, my friend, something puzzled you," said Hanaud.

"That's true," Mr. Ricardo replied, with a little

And suddenly Mr. Ricardo chirruped: "I've got it. One of them —sitting not so far from me—wait!—on the same 味方する of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する—yes!" He held his 手渡す in the 空気／公表する with a look of 激しい 集中 upon his 直面する. "Evelyn Devenish!" he cried. "She shivered suddenly and rather violently."

"Yes."

"And someone—oh, of course, it was that which puzzled me," and Mr. Ricardo leaned 支援する against the rail of the （法廷の）裁判 and relapsed into contentment.

"But you 港／避難所't told me what puzzled you," said Hanaud in the gentlest 発言する／表明する.

非，不，無 the いっそう少なく, Mr. Ricardo uttered a cry of 苦痛. "You are 傷つけるing my arm."

Hanaud's fingers were gripped about it like a 副／悪徳行為. He relaxed his 持つ／拘留する すぐに. "I am sorry, my friend."

"You have 推論する／理由 to be," said Mr. Ricardo rather indignantly, as he massaged the bruised 四肢. "I shall be terribly bruised tomorrow. The last time my arm 傷つける me as it does now was after an 弓術，射手隊 会合 in the country. I was not an adept with the 屈服する—it was at a house in Berkshire—yes! Let me see! Whose—house was it?"

It was some while ago. Mr. Ricardo had already begun to run over the 指名するs of his 知識s in Berkshire for the locality of that 弓術，射手隊 会合, when Hanaud 観察するd:

"And so Evelyn Devenish shivered 突然に and violently."

Mr. Ricardo 星／主役にするd for a second or so at his companion and （機の）カム away from Berkshire by 表明する.

"I ought not to have turned aside from what I was telling you," he said, looking at Hanaud with some severity. "Yes, Evelyn Devenish shivered, and Joyce Whipple exclaimed, she, too, rather violently: 'It's no use looking at me, Evelyn. It's not I who dispense the 冷淡な.' It seemed to me that there was an understream of hysteria in both Evelyn and Joyce Whipple. Undoubtedly both of them were nervous—Joyce 特に. Her 発言する／表明する, which was 自然に low and 甘い, had roughened and was 厳しい. I couldn't of dinner he spoke no more. Not a word! He just sat and watched with 有望な 注目する，もくろむs 範囲ing about the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する —like—like—a bird's!"

Hanaud patted his friend upon the 膝; and sat with a frown upon his 直面する. "'It is not I who dispense the 冷淡な,'" he repeated, and he looked up at Herbesthal. "Those are very strange words, Monsieur Le Commissaire. Yet the old fox understood them. 井戸／弁護士席, we must understand them too. For I think they are the 重要な to the whole 事件／事情／状勢."

He stood up, as though all his 商売／仕事 with the terrace and the garden was at an end. But before he could move away, he heard a モーター-car approach and stop on the other 味方する of the house.

"The wanderers have returned," he said. He took out his watch and looked at the dial.

"Six o'clock!"

Time had passed 速く for that party upon the terrace. Mr. Ricardo 設立する it difficult to believe that the better part of three hours had slipped away since Diana Tasborough and コマドリ Webster had started out to send a 電報電信 from Pauillac.

"They were very wise to take the 空気／公表する," said Hanaud. He fetched a packet of 黒人／ボイコット cigarettes in a wrapper of 有望な blue paper out of a pocket. He 申し込む／申し出d one to the Commissary Herbesthal, who took it, and another to Mr. Ricardo, who did not. He struck a sulphur match, watched it fizzle into a 炎上, and with some 儀式 lighted the commissary's cigarette. Then he lit his own and, 再開するing his seat, began placidly to relate an 古代の experience of the days when he was a novice in the police.

CHAPTER 14. — HANAUD IS STARTLED

HE broke off as "the wanderers" （機の）カム out upon the terrace, and had a smile of congratulation for Diana Tasborough, to whose 直面する some tinge of her fresh colour had returned.

"That is better, mademoiselle," he said. "You sent off your 電報電信s?"

"Yes," and she 追加するd: "Mr. Webster 説得するd me to 長引かせる the 運動."

コマドリ Webster proceeded to 正当化する his advice with that prim and exact articulation which never failed to strike Mr. Ricardo as a little incongruous in a young man of so much elegance.

"I argued that it would be of 利益 to 行方不明になる Tasborough, that we should only 妨害する your 調査s here by an 即座の return, and that we might perhaps be a little useful to you ourselves if we made some 調査s of our 隣人s."

Hanaud, who had been listening attentively, cried out with an 爆発性の 強調 which the occasion did not seem to 令状:

"I am sure of it!" and noticing some surprise upon コマドリ Webster's 直面する, 修正するd his トン. "You could have done nothing wiser. Did you get any satisfaction from your 調査s?"

コマドリ Webster shook his 長，率いる. "No one had seen Joyce Whipple."

The mere pronunciation of her 指名する made his 発言する／表明する shake and his cheek turn pale, and 苦しめる so clouded his 注目する，もくろむs that Mr. Ricardo wished for words wherewith to 慰安 him. He was in love, this young man, and for young men in love Mr. Ricardo had always a tender corner of his heart. No 疑問 the candle 燃やすing late in his empty room had a 怪しげな look. That was not to be forgotten. But it might after all have been no more than a ruse to 隠す a tryst with Joyce Whipple which she had not kept. コマドリ Webster might even have been searching for her 猛烈に whilst the candle was 燃やすing 負かす／撃墜する to its last fragment of wick. No 疑問, too, Hanaud imagined that he had made yet another remarkable 発見 in the chalet. Mr. Ricardo was not やめる 確かな but that his sharp involuntary "I am sure" of a minute ago was a 確定／確認 of that 発見. But Hanaud could 失敗 like everyone else. He could shout "Swan" when he saw a goose, as loudly as the 残り／休憩（する） of the world, and for tuppence Mr. Ricardo would tell him so. It seemed, however, that Hanaud had been impressed, too, by the 誠実 of the young man's emotion. For his 発言する／表明する when he spoke was pitiful.

"You must not lose heart. Monsieur Herbesthal's men are searching the neighbourhood 完全に, on the chance that this poor girl may, as it so often happens, have lost her memory. If on the other 手渡す there has been foul play, I can tell you that not a モーター-car, not a carriage, not even a cart will escape from the （犯罪の）一味 which has been drawn about this 環境 without such a search as will leave nothing 公表されていない. Every road, every cart-跡をつける, every path is watched." Monsieur Herbesthal nodded his 長，率いる. "Ever since this morning that has been so."

"Yes," Diana agreed hopefully. "We ourselves were stopped all through this afternoon."

Her hope was not 株d by コマドリ Webster. "That is all very 井戸／弁護士席," he said, 星／主役にするing miserably at Hanaud. "But what I am afraid of is that now not the whole French army 野営するd upon the roads could ever 回復する her to us. I 恐れる—" but he choked upon the word and could not utter it.

"I 恐れる that not even the whole French army 野営するd on the
roads could 回復する Joyce to us," Webster said miserably.

"You 恐れる 殺人," said Hanaud.

A spasm of 苦痛 convulsed コマドリ Webster's 直面する. "Yes," he answered in a whisper.

Suddenly Hanaud rose up from the （法廷の）裁判 and astonished all who were about him on that terrace. Such a change （機の）カム over him as やめる transfigured his 外見. He towered 築く and tremendous, and he spoke with the 当局 of a prophet （犯罪の）一味ing in his 発言する／表明する.

"I am sure of this. If Joyce Whipple is alive now, she will not die by 暴力／激しさ."

コマドリ Webster drew in a breath as though he drank courage from the words. "You believe that," he cried. "You—oh, you have 設立する her!" He 掴むd upon that notion, was 納得させるd by it and 星／主役にするd at Hanaud with parted lips and 向こうずねing 注目する，もくろむs.

"No! I have 設立する some footsteps—nothing more. She ran across the lawn last night. Of where she is, monsieur, I know no more than you."

"Yet you 宣言する that she is 安全な."

"安全な? No. I do 宣言する that now 殺人 dare not be done, if 殺人 was ever planned. Once more, oh, for the hundred thousandth time in the long history of 暴力／激しさ, it has been 証明するd that the dead 犠牲者 can hardly be destroyed. There is a 運命／宿命 in it. There is 司法（官） in it. Those who killed Evelyn Devenish dare not kill again."

"You are （疑いを）晴らす then that the 殺人 of Evelyn Devenish and the 見えなくなる of Joyce Whipple are part of the same 罪，犯罪?"

"Look about you," Hanaud returned. "This scattered neighbourhood. The few inhabitants. Is it possible that on the same night, in the same house, these two abominations were committed 独立して? No. Let us be reasonable. The only 代案／選択肢 is that Joyce Whipple was an 共犯者"; and on the （法廷の）裁判 beside him Diana Tasborough started.

Hanaud swung 一連の会議、交渉／完成する に向かって her on the instant. She was sitting with the strangest look of 恐れる upon her 直面する. "You believe that possible, mademoiselle?" Hanaud asked.

Diana shook her 長，率いる violently. "Of course not. Joyce is my friend. I had never thought of it. Only your words reminded me that there seemed always to be...." Diana was at a loss how to put what she meant to say into words which would do no 傷つける.

"Yes?" Hanaud 主張するd gently, bending 負かす／撃墜する to the girl.

"井戸／弁護士席, there seemed always to be some curious ill-will between Joyce and Evelyn," she said reluctantly.

Hanaud drew himself up in surprise. "Is that so?" he said slowly and in a musing 発言する／表明する. But Diana hurriedly interposed. She would not have him dwell upon that 発覚 or give any 負わせる to it in his thoughts.

"It wasn't of any importance," she 勧めるd 熱望して. "They didn't 攻撃する，衝突する it off やめる. That's all there was to it—I am sure. They were just 自然に a little 敵意を持った to one another. Oh, I was a fool to について言及する it to you at all. I shouldn't have, unless you had 示唆するd it."

Hanaud was at once anxious to 解除する from her any sense of self-reproach.

"Mademoiselle, it is much better, believe me, that you should have told me this 率直に and 簡単に as you have done, than that I should have discovered it later on for myself. It is a little 詳細（に述べる） to which I might have given greater 負わせる, if I had thought that you had 隠すd it from me."

Mr. Ricardo was mystified. Hanaud's 推論する／理由ing was no 疑問 very sound; but there was no need for it. Diana Tasborough had 明らかにする／漏らすd nothing when she 認める the 敵意 between Evelyn Devenish and Joyce Whipple. He himself only this morning had told the story of the 洞穴 of the Mummies, and had 追加するd to it this afternoon his account of Joyce's 半端物 little 爆発 at the dinner-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. Hanaud already knew all that it was necessary to know upon that point. He was wantonly wasting 価値のある time in eliciting it a second time from Diana.

"He is losing himself in the by—ways of this 事例／患者," Mr. Ricardo 推論する／理由d. "I must bring him 支援する to the main road."

He had begun to make a little twittering noise as a preface to his expostulation when an unkindly 冷淡な glare in Hanaud's 注目する，もくろむs changed his mind for him.

"Mr. Ricardo, I think, is about to 観察する very 正確に，正当に that we are making too much of a very small 詳細（に述べる）."

All 注目する，もくろむs at once were turned upon Ricardo, who suddenly felt nervous and hopped from one foot on to the other. "That is so," he said. "I was on the point of making that 観察."

All 注目する，もくろむs, to his 救済, were once more turned away from him, but he had even in his 救済 a biting thought that he was 存在 neglected as a futility. コマドリ Webster brought the discussion 支援する to the graver problem with which it had begun.

"You are very 確信して, Monsieur Hanaud, that if no second 殺人 has been committed, it will not be. For my part, I wish that I could believe that. But those who killed Evelyn Devenish will be desperate people. They must go on. They are committed —whatever the 危険 they must go on, as I see their position. They will take their 警戒s."

"Did they take no 警戒s with Evelyn Devenish?" Hanaud interrupted. "They know that 警戒s fail."

Even so, コマドリ Webster was not 満足させるd. He stood with a white 直面する twitching and 注目する，もくろむs that sought and fled from the 探偵，刑事's. He had some 恐れる in his mind which he could hardly bring himself to utter. In the end he 開始する，打ち上げるd a dreadful word in a low and toneless 発言する／表明する. "Burial," he said.

It was a question. Wasn't that the 警戒 which this time would not fail? And Mr. Ricardo in a flight of imagination kindled by that word of terror, 範囲d over the vineyards and the forests and 設立する the 塚 of a small new 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な hidden under leaves, and slowly 沈むing to the level of the ground about it with the passage of the seasons. Hanaud's answer to the question rolled out like 雷鳴.

"It has been tried in England and it has failed. It has been tried in フラン and it has failed. Monsieur, if like"—he hesitated and 訂正するd himself—"like someone whom I know, I wished for a good 有罪の判決 at the Assizes rather than the saving of a life, I should say, 'A burial! Nothing could be better!'"

With that grim and rather shocking 結論 he turned again to Diana Tasborough.

"Mademoiselle, we shall spare you to the 限界 of our 力／強力にするs. The rooms of those two ladies must of course be 調印（する）d. There will be an スパイ／執行官 of the police in the house, and others in the grounds. I 信用 indeed that they will be even welcome to yourself and your good aunt. For myself, I must return now to Bordeaux and it will, I think, since 歓待 is at such a time an 当惑, be more convenient if Monsieur Ricardo returns with me."

"You are very 肉親，親類d," Diana replied gratefully, but her 発言する／表明する 常習的な perceptibly as she 追加するd, "and certainly Mr. Ricardo will sleep better at Bordeaux than he managed to sleep at the Ch穰eau Suvlac."

"Then I commend you to the care of Monsieur Le Commissaire," Hanaud continued briskly, "and for you, Monsieur Webster, may the success of your vintage be of good augury."

He 屈服するd elaborately. To Ricardo he said, "You will have time to pack, whilst Monsieur Le Commissaire and I make our little 手はず／準備," and he passed into the 製図／抽選-room. Ricardo 屈服するd in his turn and followed at his heels. Hanaud crossed the room to the door 開始 into the hall—the door in the 支援する 塀で囲む —and as he took the 扱う in his 手渡す, he half turned about. He was looking 支援する on to the terrace, and even he was startled.

"In the 指名する of God!" he whispered. "Take one look, my friend —no more. You have seen nothing like that in your life!"

He himself slipped through the doorway into the hall. Mr. Ricardo imitated Hanaud's movements and ちらりと見ることd 支援する at the appropriate moment through the glass window to the terrace with every 仮定／引き受けること of 無関心／冷淡. But the arts of the actor were not at that moment needed. He looked straight at コマドリ Webster, who was standing lost to all the world, and motionless as a piece of 石／投石する, on the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where they had left him. But his 直面する was a white 炎上 of wild fury. He was 星／主役にするing at Diana Tasborough with wide unwinking 注目する，もくろむs. Hanaud was 権利. Mr. Ricardo had never seen anything so terrifying in his life. Even the mask could not compare with it.

CHAPTER 15. — THE VICOMTE PAINTS HIS GATE

MR. RICARDO sat on the 辛勝する／優位 of his bed with his 長，率いる in his 手渡すs, whilst his servant packed. His 長，率いる was in a whirl. All that he had seen and heard that day was jumbled 宣言 that the 殺害者s of Evelyn Devenish dare not repeat their 罪，犯罪—and what Hanaud had seen in Diana Tasborough's bedroom and he hadn't—and what Hanaud had deduced from the 調書をとる／予約するs at コマドリ Webster's 病人の枕元, and he hadn't—and コマドリ Webster's stark, appalling fury on the terrace. His 長，率いる ached as he enumerated his bewilderments and he felt very 感謝する to Hanaud for 供給するing him with so convenient an 出口 from this 悲劇の house. He would have time in Bordeaux to take out his （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs and 減ずる if it was only his ignorance to some sort of order. He would also be relieved of the dislike for him which Diana so 明白に felt. Accordingly he lit a cigarette and tried to banish the whole 絡まる from his thoughts.

But he couldn't do it. For his memory began to 動かす. He sat up 築く and gasped. Elias Thomson looked up from his portmanteaux and saw his 雇用者 星／主役にするing into vacancy with an open mouth.

"Are you Indisposed, sir?" he asked, but Mr. Ricardo heard him not. An idea had sprung alive in his brain, a 十分な-size 完全にする idea, an illuminating idea, an Aurora Borealis of an idea. Elias Thomson took deftly from his fingers the cigarette which was on the point of setting 解雇する／砲火／射撃 to the quilt. Mr. Ricardo did not notice the 警戒. Elias Thomson returned to his packing.

"It's this 'ere 罪，犯罪," he said. "You always was a oner for 罪，犯罪s, wasn't you, sir, ever since you made 'istory at Aix?"

Even those nattering words did not reach beyond the porches of Mr. Ricardo's ears. A more insidious flattery was warming his heart. He, too, had noticed something which no one else had noticed. Even Hanaud had been deaf to it, and blind to it. Yet it was of an importance which nothing could transcend.

There （機の）カム a knock upon the door. Jules Amad馥 had brought word that the モーター-cars were at the door and that Hanaud was waiting in the hall. Mr. Ricardo sprang to his feet.

"You will put the luggage into Mr. Hanaud's car and travel with it," he cried to Elias Thomson. He gave a handsome largesse to Jules Amad馥 and hurried along the passage. At the hall （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する Hanaud was carelessly turning over a number of cards which had been left at the house that afternoon. Mr. Ricardo dashed up to him.

"I have something to tell you, my friend," he exclaimed, excitedly, triumphantly.

"But you are wrong, Mr. Ricardo," said Hanaud pleasantly, as Elias Thomson and Jules Amad馥 carried the luggage past them and out to the cars.

"But I 港／避難所't told you what I was going to tell you," Mr. Ricardo cried indignantly.

"That is so. But what you were going to tell me was going to be wrong," Hanaud returned. "On the other 手渡す, I have something to tell you which is really curious and 利益／興味ing."

Mr. Ricardo stepped 支援する a pace and choked. There was a 穏やかな phrase about throwing 冷淡な water upon a man. Mr. Ricardo felt that 北極の seas could not have drenched him more. Was there ever, he asked himself, a vanity so colossal? Nothing was 価値（がある） noticing unless Hanaud noticed it. Nothing 価値（がある） telling unless Hanaud told it. Very 井戸／弁護士席! Now Hanaud should be punished for it. It was high time that he learned a lesson in modesty. Mr. Ricardo would keep his 発見 to himself. He would work out all its ramifications alone in Bordeaux. Hanaud might implore him to 明らかにする／漏らす it. He would only do so in his own good time. He smiled: "You shall tell me," he said softly, "this thing so curious."

Hanaud looked out through the open doorway. Thomson and Jules Amad馥 were busy piling the 捕らえる、獲得するs into the smaller car.

"I find it very 利益／興味ing that from those who have called this afternoon to 申し込む／申し出 their 弔慰s, there is one remarkable omission."

"Indeed?" said Mr. Ricardo indifferently.

"Yes," said Hanaud and stopped there. He undoubtedly was a very annoying man. For now Mr. Ricardo had to ask who it was that had failed to tender his sympathy.

"The Vicomte Cassandre de Mirandol," Hanaud replied.

"Oh!" The 告示 did give Mr. Ricardo a little shock. Good manners should be so 決定的な an element in the 器具／備品 of a Vicomte Cassandre de Mirandol that he could not leave them at home like a pair of gloves, even if he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to. But Ricardo's feelings に向かって Hanaud at this moment would not 許す him to 収容する／認める so much.

"Monsieur de Mirandol was up very late last night," he said.

"So he was, but it's now very late today," 再結合させるd Hanaud, looking at his watch.

"He may have caught a 冷淡な on his way home," Mr. Ricardo tried again.

"That need not have 妨げるd him from sending a card."

"It is in any 事例／患者 a small 事柄," Mr. Ricardo 発言／述べるd loftily. He meant in comparison with the tremendous 事柄 which he was now 決定するd to keep to himself.

"Is it? He is the nearest 隣人 of all, and he dined here last night. I find it remarkable."

"Very 井戸／弁護士席 then. It is remarkable," Mr. Ricardo agreed irritably, and the two men went out from the Ch穰eau Suvlac. Moreau and Elias Thomson were already seated in Hanaud's police car, and at a nod from Hanaud Moreau started.

"We shall follow them," said Hanaud, and Mr. Ricardo, with a memory of that morning in his mind, cried out quickly to his chauffeur; "To Bordeaux."

"I had already given that excellent driver his 指示／教授／教育s," Hanaud 発言／述べるd imperturbably as the big car glided from the door; and Mr. Ricardo jumped up and 負かす／撃墜する restively upon the springs of his seat. He was finding his companion's obtuseness in the finer 詳細（に述べる）s of 行為／行う very hard to 耐える.

"You are annoyed with me, my friend." Hanaud fetched from his pocket his blue packet of Maryland cigarettes and lit the pungent stick of タバコ with a match which seemed to fizzle for an eternity.

"I like 確かな things," Mr. Ricardo 宣言するd coldly, "and I dislike 確かな other things."

"I, too, have that 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の disposition," Hanaud replied 厳粛に.

"For instance, I like to give my own orders to my own chauffeur."

Mr. Ricardo was a trifle mollified by the explanation. It had a 確かな flattery in it. He might not be always so quick in the uptake as the 広大な／多数の／重要な 探偵，刑事, but on the other 手渡す he had a Rolls. It was therefore in a milder spirit that he 表明するd what he did not like.

"I do not like to be snubbed."

"Ah, but that is different! A thousand 悔いるs first! Yes, Hanaud—he, the 広大な／多数の／重要な one, is on his 膝s," and he turned and 屈服するd with his 手渡す upon his heart. "But consider! See in what a difficulty I am! You come running all hot with （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） into the hall, and Jules Amad馥 is on your heels with your luggage. If I let you speak, once we are gone, Jules Amad馥 —he runs too. But to his mistress! And that poor girl with enough 苦しめる already upon her young shoulders, believes without 推論する／理由 that we 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う her of complicity in this 罪，犯罪. Without 推論する／理由—yes!" he 主張するd stoutly. "For she tells us 率直に that she drove here and there amongst her 隣人s. What more likely than that she should 会合，会う Monsieur Tidon, the 診察するing 治安判事, upon his 調査s? And if she 会合，会う him, what more likely than that he should say: 'That Mr. Ricardo did not sleep 井戸／弁護士席 last night in the Ch穰eau Suvlac!' Ah, the snubbing—I had to do him."

Mr. Ricardo 星／主役にするd at his companion in a stupefaction. "You knew then what I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to tell you!"

"But of course I knew. It is my 商売／仕事. You 手配中の，お尋ね者 to say to me at the 最高の，を越す of your 発言する／表明する: 'To only two people have I said that I slept ill last night—Hanaud and the 治安判事. Yet 行方不明になる Diana—now she knows too!' Wasn't that it?"

"Yes," said Mr. Ricardo, 大いに humbled. His 罰金 発見 量d to just nothing at all. Hanaud had 掴むd upon the point at the same time as himself and given to it its natural explanation. 反して he had never followed out its 関わりあい／含蓄s at all.

"Yes," he continued with a trifle of bitterness. "The snubbing! You had to do him!"

But even while he spoke, a picture rose before his 注目する，もくろむs, the picture of コマドリ Webster on the terrace gazing at Diana with a murderous fury in his 直面する.

"But a little moment!" he cried. "But if I thought that Diana Tasborough made a slip, so did コマドリ Webster! That simple, natural explanation—no, it won't do. Yes, they met the 診察するing 治安判事! Yes, he told them—probably all that I told him in the 県 of Villeblanche. He is a fool, that 治安判事. But it was agreed that she should know nothing of what I told him when we met afterwards—"

"Agreed between whom?" Hanaud asked はっきりと.

"Between コマドリ Webster and Diana Tasborough. And she forgot the 協定, and she made her slip, which we shall do 井戸／弁護士席 not to forget."

Mr. Ricardo leaned 支援する with a pleasant sensation that he had turned the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs upon his complacent friend. He rubbed his 手渡すs together with a what—do—you—say— to—that? 空気／公表する about him. Hanaud was impressed by all this 推論する／理由ing. He pursed his lips and shook his 長，率いる.

"I cannot agree that Monsieur Tidon is a fool," he said thoughtfully. "I don't say that because he is my 公式の／役人 superior. No! I think him, on the contrary, astute. He may have been loquacious, but he will have had a good 推論する／理由. Yes, I think he will get to Bordeaux, since he wishes to do so. Paris— that is another 事柄. But Bordeaux—yes," and he smiled pleasantly, already congratulating the 治安判事 upon his translation. "As for Webster, that is another 事柄. Perhaps I give you him, eh? Perhaps he is"—and he dropped into English with his usual success—"warm 構成要素."

"Hot stuff," Mr. Ricardo 敏速に 修正するd. He preferred that if vulgar idioms were going to be used, they should be used 正確に. He had hardly made his 改正 when the car （機の）カム 突然の to a stop, and a sergeant of police flung open the door.

Hanaud jumped out, 現在のd his 証明書s of 身元 and received some obsequious 陳謝s. But he would not listen to them. "The strictest guard is necessary. I beg you to 扱う／治療する everyone just so." The car had been stopped at a pair of handsome アイロンをかける gates, beyond which a 幅の広い carriage 運動 curved out of sight. "To whose house does that lead?" Hanaud asked.

"Monsieur de Mirandol's," answered the sergeant.

Hanaud was puzzled. He looked backwards along the road. The Ch穰eau Suvlac was a good half-mile from where he stood; whilst the 予定するd turrets of the Vicomte's house could be seen behind a clump of trees not a hundred and fifty yards from the アイロンをかける gates.

"I understood," he said, "that Monsieur de Mirandol's house was a long, low white house on the 最高の，を越す of a hill opposite to the Ch穰eau Suvlac."

"Certainly the 治安判事 told us so," Mr. Ricardo agreed. He had descended from the car and stood at the 辛勝する／優位 of the road with Hanaud.

"That is the old summer-house of Mirandol," the sergeant explained. It could be reached both from the ch穰eau here or by a road through the open country in 前線 of the house of Suvlac. The Vicomte used it for his dwelling. It was 静かな and he had his 広大な／多数の／重要な library of 調書をとる／予約するs housed in it. The big ch穰eau was now a guest-house and offices.

"I suppose that the young ch穰elaine of Suvlac paid a visit here this afternoon, eh?" Hanaud asked.

"Yes, monsieur."

Hanaud smiled at Mr. Ricardo. "So, at last, we have the real 推論する／理由 why Monsieur de Mirandol did not call with his 弔慰s. He had tendered them already in his own house." He looked at his watch. "We will imitate the young ch穰elaine of Suvlac. Come!"

The two men left the car under the sergeant's 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金, opened the gates, and passed up the 運動 to the house. The ch臺s 現実に 隣接するd the main building, so that in the yard and in 前線 of the porch there was a continual passing to and fro of people. Hanaud spoke to a man who was giving orders.

"Monsieur Le Vicomte?" The man pointed to a 延長／続編 of the carriage road and went on with his work. The road now ran slanting 上向きs through a thicket of small trees, 狭くするd, and （機の）カム to an end in 前線 of a small white gate. Beyond the gate a footpath 負傷させる through shrubberies, and suddenly Hanaud and Ricardo 設立する themselves upon an open 陰謀（を企てる） of pasture rather than kept grass, and the long, 無傷の 前線 of the two-storied house glistened in 前線 of them. A 選び出す／独身 石／投石する 旗 was laid before the door. All was as plain as could be in the architecture of the house, and 完全に 満足させるing to the mind and 注目する，もくろむ. Hanaud rang the bell, and the loud jangle gave the suggestion of an empty house. But in a little while the door was opened and a manservant stood upon the threshold. He was fat and rather bald and rather sly in 外見, and his years of service had 着せる／賦与するd him with a superficial resemblance to his master. Mr. Ricardo wondered whether his 手渡すs were wet, and was thankful that he could go on wondering. "Monsieur Le Vicomte?" Hanaud asked. "He is along that path, 絵 the gate," said the man.

"We will find him." The path which the servant 指定するd skirted the rough grass-陰謀（を企てる） and disappeared の中で bushes of rhododendrons on the 味方する opposite to that by which they had come. It formed the second perpendicular of a triangle of which the base would be a line drawn between the two paths across the grass at the points where they 現れるd from the shrubs. Hanaud and Mr. Ricardo made their way along this second path, and after a turn or two （機の）カム in sight of the Vicomte with his coat off, a paint-マリファナ in one 手渡す, a big 小衝突 in the other, stooping by a 狭くする 木造の gate which led out on to a road. He saw his 訪問者s as soon as they saw him and rose 築く.

"Monsieur Ricardo," he said with a smile. "式のs! I cannot shake you by the 手渡す. I am one big smudge of paint."

It was green paint. He had laid it thickly on his gate, 公正に／かなり thickly on his 着せる／賦与するs and 手渡すs, and not a little on his 直面する. "Your companion, Monsieur Ricardo, I have not the honour to know. But my unhappy young friend of Suvlac brought me her bad news this afternoon and I can guess who he is. Monsieur Hanaud?"

Hanaud 屈服するd. "At your service, Monsieur Le Vicomte."

"An obscure and terrible 事件／事情／状勢, Monsieur Hanaud. It is very fortunate for this neighbourhood that you chanced to be in Bordeaux."

"But I am at Bordeaux, Monsieur Le Vicomte, on another 事柄. I return to that city now. Here, I tell you 率直に, I have not got very far."

"But you will come 支援する to Suvlac," de Mirandol 勧めるd anxiously. "A 罪，犯罪 so appalling cannot be left 未解決の."

"I shall come 支援する, Monsieur Le Vicomte. But in time? That is another question. A day lost, even a few hours, and what scent there was is 冷淡な."

"The honour of the 地区, and its safety, both are 伴う／関わるd," the Vicomte pleaded.

"I shall do my best," Hanaud answered gloomily. There was no 信用／信任 in his 発言する／表明する. He seemed bogged to the neck in discouragement. "Where did she go to, Madame Devenish, when she slipped out of her window last night? Who shall tell us? All the country was asleep. There was no guard upon every road and path, as there is now. We lock the door, as Mr. Ricardo would say, after the horse has stolen the oats."

Mr. Ricardo let the error pass, Hanaud was so disheartened. It would have been cruelty to 訂正する him.

"You will 容赦 me if I continue my work," said the Vicomte, and he stooped again to his 絵. "I should like to finish the gate before nightfall, but I am not very adept, as you can see for yourselves." He splashed away with his 小衝突, talking while he worked. "All my men are today amongst the vines. I left this gate until the summer suns had lost their strength. Today I waked up with the thought, 'Now or never.'"

"Monsieur Le Vicomte, you 始める，決める a 罰金 example," Hanaud said politely.

The Vicomte was 持つ／拘留するing the gate open by the latch with his left 手渡す encased in a 厚い gardener's glove, whilst he painted with his 権利. Hanaud slipped past him on to the road outside. He was looking straight now across the hollow to the rose-pink Ch穰eau of Suvlac. The road on which he stood slanted 負かす／撃墜する the hill to his left and at the foot of it joined the broader road which passed the farm buildings and the garage of Suvlac, and rose to the 広大な／多数の／重要な arch in 前線 of the house. Hanaud stood 調査するing the scene, which was very 平和的な and pretty in the sunset; and then was 有罪の of a piece of carelessness which Mr. Ricardo 設立する it やめる impossible to excuse.

"It is a convenient road," Hanaud began, making polite conversation and stretching out his arm に向かって the Ch穰eau Suvlac. He had 解放（する）d his 持つ／拘留する upon the mask beneath his coat. It slipped. The handkerchief in which it was wrapped （機の）カム into 見解（をとる）, and although Mr. Ricardo coughed and hemm'd and shuffled his feet and clicked his fingers, before he could attract Hanaud's attention, it fell to the ground. Worse still, the handkerchief opened. The mask with its red 長，率いる, its livid countenance and purple lips, lay 十分な in 見解（をとる） for all the world to see.

For a moment Hanaud stood aghast. Then he 急襲するd upon the secret thing, covered it up, placed it at his breast and buttoned his coat over it.

"What is the use of that now?" Mr. Ricardo asked himself, troubled and indeed indignant at such laxity. "Indeed, he is locking the stable after the horse has stolen the oats."

As for the Vicomte Cassandre de Mirandol, he pretended to have noticed nothing. He continued to paint his gate, working lustily.

"I am proud of my work," he said to Mr. Ricardo, who was standing behind and over him. "For an amateur whose life is in his 熟考する／考慮する, it is not so bad. All this morning I burnt the old and blistered paint off the 支持を得ようと努めるd. All this afternoon I paint it fresh." He laughed as a big blob of the 厚い oil paint splashed on to his bald 長，率いる. Another 減少（する） or two flew wide on to Mr. Ricardo's neat grey 控訴—and with a start Mr. Ricardo understood why. Inexpert no 疑問 the Vicomte was, but his 手渡すs were trembling. The latch 動揺させるd under his left 手渡す, the paint-小衝突 nickered in his 権利. He could talk 刻々と—yes, he could 支配（する）／統制する his 発言する／表明する—and he did talk to hide from his 訪問者s that he could not 支配（する）／統制する his 手渡すs.

Dr. Mirandol could talk airily, 刻々と about his 絵—and he
did talk to hide from his 訪問者s that he could not 支配（する）／統制する his 手渡すs.

"It is a convenient road," said Hanaud, 回復するing from his 混乱. "It makes a visit to your friends or a visit from them the easiest 事件／事情／状勢, and I can see that both of you make use of it." He pointed to the 跡をつけるs on the road. More than one car had stopped beside that gate and turned.

He turned 支援する into the garden and de Mirandol 急落（する），激減（する）d his paint-小衝突 into the マリファナ, stood up and, with a grimace of 苦痛, stretched his 支援する.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" he said, laughing at his 不快. "This was, after all, work for younger men. I shall be in bed with the lumbago for a week."

"A hot bath at once, Monsieur Le Vicomte, and you will 令状 a learned paper 十分な of new ideas before bed-time," said Hanaud with a smile. "We shall not 延期する you."

The Vicomte made his 陳謝s. He would have liked to have tendered to the famous Hanaud some of the 歓待 for which the 地区 was renowned. But they saw his 苦境. He stripped off the 厚い leather glove from his left 手渡す and 延長するd it with a laugh.

"This is all of me which is not coated with paint. As for the other"—and he looked ruefully at his 権利 手渡す, stained and besplattered to the wrist—"will all the essences of all the 化学者／薬剤師s in Bordeaux ever get it clean?"

They left him standing there, and returning by the way they had come got again into Ricardo's car. Hanaud waved a 手渡す to the sergeant of police.

"To Bordeaux," Mr. Ricardo 命令（する）d, speaking 負かす／撃墜する the tube; and the car slid 滑らかに away along the white and dusty road. It passed a ch穰eau or two famous for its vineyards, swept through a village 提携させるd upon each 味方する, and then Hanaud spoke:

"A 広大な／多数の／重要な student? Yes. Very learned? Yes. His papers upon philosophy send the young ladies of Bordeaux into ecstasies of 賞賛. Yes! But, my friend, he was not 熟考する／考慮するing in his library at two o'clock of this morning. No! For his library is on the ground 床に打ち倒す of that summer-house and to the left of the door. I looked in as we passed. Yes, Hanaud looked through the window and saw so many 調書をとる／予約するs 開始するing to the 天井 against the 塀で囲むs, that his heart was 抑圧するd with the 負わせる of all those treatises." His 発言する／表明する lost its mocking トンs and he leaned a little nearer to Ricardo. "But what Hanaud would really like to know—and see—is the long room upon the first 床に打ち倒す in which all the lights 炎d until the morning."

He fell to silence again for a little while and then, with a grim chuckle: "The 手渡すs—what 反逆者s they are! A 発言する／表明する, the 表現 of a 直面する, one can 支配（する）／統制する them. Yes, even an amateur who spends his life in his library. But the 手渡すs? Not even the most astute."

"You noticed that his 手渡すs trembled?" cried Mr. Ricardo. "But you were out upon the road."

Hanaud smiled with a modesty detestably 誤った. "Yes, I noticed. It is my 商売／仕事, dear friend."

"Perhaps it is also your 商売／仕事 to 減少（する） remarkable masks about the 主要道路s of フラン," Mr. Ricardo retorted with a good 取引，協定 of spirit. But the shame upon Hanaud's 直面する 武装解除するd him the moment he had spoken. If this was not the Hanaud of the old days, it was kinder to hide his 拒絶する／低下する from him as long as he could.

"The very best of us must 失敗 at times," he said with magnanimity.

"Just like the 犯罪のs," Hanaud agreed. "The Vicomte did a very subtle thing in the end. He showed us his 手渡すs," Ricardo continued, and Hanaud looked at him 速く with an 半端物, appraising ちらりと見ること. "Yes, he showed me both his 手渡すs," he said.

"To 証明する to you that they did not shake. He was anxious that you should see how 安定した they were!" Mr. Ricardo exclaimed, and Hanaud took his 注目する，もくろむs from his friend's 直面する and leaned 支援する at his 緩和する.

"Oh, it was for that 推論する／理由, was it?" he said slowly. "But here we are!" and the car stopped with a jerk opposite a stately building in a tiny street.

"In Bordeaux! Impossible!" said Mr. Ricardo, しっかり掴むing the speaking-tube in his 手渡す.

"In Bordeaux, no!" Hanaud answered imperturbably. "But at the 地位，任命する office of Pauillac. Let us go in!"

They descended from the car and entered the 広大な／多数の／重要な hall. Hanaud 現在のd a card at a guichet and was 勧めるd with his companion into a 私的な room. A little consequential, bearded man （機の）カム in and 申し込む／申し出d his services.

"I shall be 強いるd, postmaster, if you will tell me whether, 早期に in this week, a Mademoiselle Joyce Whipple received a 登録（する）d 一括 from England."

The postmaster fetched a long 調書をとる／予約する and ran his finger 負かす／撃墜する the 入ること／参加（者）s on one of its yellow sheets.

"Yes. On Tuesday morning."

"She fetched it?"

The postmaster went out, made an 調査, and returned. "No, Monsieur Hanaud. The little 小包 was 配達するd to her at the Ch穰eau Suvlac."

"She 調印するd for it, of course?"

"Of course."

"May I see the 署名?" Hanaud asked; and when the 領収書-調書をとる／予約する was laid before him, he laid it before Mr. Ricardo. "That is her 署名?"

"Yes."

"You are やめる sure!" Hanaud 主張するd. "It is very important."

"She wrote to me once to remind me of the conversation we had in London. I have seen her 署名, too, in a 訪問者s' 調書をとる／予約する," Mr. Ricardo replied with a little いっそう少なく of 保証／確信.

"We can make 確かな ," said Hanaud. He felt in his breast-pocket and drew out the yellow paper cover of a French novel. Upon it, underneath the 肩書を与える, was written the 指名する "Joyce Whipple."

"The 調書をとる／予約する was lying upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in her bedroom. It was published a few weeks ago. It is on all the bookstalls. It is 許すd to assume that mademoiselle bought it at the Quai d'Orsay for her 旅行 to Bordeaux."

He laid the leaf against the 署名 in the 領収書-調書をとる／予約する, and the 指名するs 一致するd 正確に／まさに in the 形式 of their letters.

"They were both written by the same 手渡す, then," said Hanaud. "It is 確かな then that 行方不明になる Whipple received the 登録（する）d packet in her own 手渡すs." He looked up again at the postmaster. "Can you tell me its 負わせる?"

The postmaster once more 協議するd his 調書をとる／予約する.

"Two hectograms."

"Seven of your ounces then," Hanaud explained to Mr. Ricardo. He remained, his 直面する clouding and （疑いを）晴らすing and clouding again, as he guessed the contents of the packet, and then 拒絶するd the guess. "But I waste time," he said 突然の. "I will send a 電報電信."

The postmaster put a form in 前線 of him, and Hanaud took from his pocket the letter from Sir Henry Brewer of the 研究室／実験室 at 物陰／風下d, and wrote the 指名する and 演説（する）／住所 in the 団体／死体 of a long 電報電信.

"I shall send it to your Scotland Yard," he said. "They will get me what I want to know most quickly. The 電報電信 will go at once? I thank you. And we shall go too."

He shook 手渡すs with the postmaster. "This time it is really to Bordeaux," he said, and he said no more until the car stopped at Mr. Ricardo's 罰金 hotel in the Cours de L'Intendance.

"Probably I shan't see you tomorrow. But if anything of 利益／興味 happens, I will let you know," he 発言／述べるd. "一方／合間 there is a question for both of us to consider. Why must the Vicomte Cassandre de Mirandol paint that particular little gate with his own 手渡すs? The other one by which we passed on our way to the house—that 手配中の，お尋ね者 its fresh coat of paint too! Why did that one 開始 on to the road above the Ch穰eau Suvlac alone receive his attention? The blisters of the sun? Blague, my friend! Why wasn't it painted before the vintage? Why couldn't it wait to be painted until after the vintage?" And with a nod and a smile he walked away.

CHAPTER 16. — BLACKETT ADDS TO DIANA'S STORY

MR. RICARDO tried to 押し進める the 罪，犯罪 of Suvlac altogether from his mind. Thus he would come fresh to its perplexities when once more his 援助 was needed. He began his day to himself, accordingly, with a stroll through the Botanical Gardens and without any 意向 （機の）カム to the ornamental water where Le Petit Mousse, with its 手渡す-driven paddle-wheels, was moored を待つing the holiday folk on the Sunday afternoon. At once he remembered the gabare and its patron, and his sly hints that the sloop would very soon belong to him without the necessity of 支払う／賃金ing for it. He stood 在庫／株-still, suddenly realizing that he had told Hanaud nothing about that conversation. Hanaud was aware of the gabare to be sure; Hanaud could have no 疑問 that it had left its harbour hours before the tide had turned, ーするために 沈む the basket with the 殺人d 犠牲者 in the middle of the 幅の広い river whilst the 不明瞭 still enveloped it. Hanaud could be 信用d to look after the patron and his two sons. Yes; but his own 関係のない conversation was 決定的な. It had taken place in the afternoon, and the 罪，犯罪 had been committed during the night which followed the afternoon. It 証明するd, or if it didn't 証明する it distinctly 示唆するd, that the 殺人 of Evelyn Devenish was premeditated. Mr. Ricardo turned 突然の away. This was certainly not putting the 事件／事情／状勢 out of his thoughts. He walked out of the gardens and setting off any whither at a good 一連の会議、交渉／完成する pace, 設立する himself in a 罰金 square and opposite to a magnificent old house, 始める，決める 支援する in a 中庭 behind a long 塀で囲む, such as nobles once 住むd and 地方自治体の officers use now.

"And what building is that, if you please?" he asked of a passer-by.

"That is the 大司教's Palace," the man returned. "It is of the sixteenth century, and has some 罰金 pictures and carving which strangers are welcome to visit."

This was the very place for Ricardo this morning. He would enter by that 広大な／多数の／重要な door in the long 塀で囲む. He would recreate the 古代の splendours of the 大司教s of Bordeaux, and contrast them with the twilight of today. He would people the 回廊（地帯）s with courtiers in doublets and 広大な／多数の／重要な ruffs. He would re-制定する historic scenes if he could think of any—he would solace his soul with—in a word, he would shake off the obsession of the Suvlac mystery.

He was approaching the 広大な／多数の／重要な door when to his amazement Hanaud （機の）カム out from the 中庭. Once more Mr. Ricardo was brought to a stop. What in the world was Hanaud doing in the Archiepiscopal it that that の近くに-lipped man should have his ears 適切に pulled by the 大司教 for his contumacy. And やめる 権利 too, Mr. Ricardo 反映するd. Anyway, it was obvious that he was not to rid himself of the 罪，犯罪 at the Ch穰eau Suvlac. So he turned upon his heel and marched 支援する to his hotel. There he 追加するd question to question upon his （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, and conjecture to conjecture, whilst Elias Thomson crept about the room soft-footed, 大臣ing in 賞賛 to the needs of his master who was such a "oner for 罪，犯罪s."

By five o'clock in the afternoon, after reading all that the newspapers, through the mouths of their special criminologists, had to say, and exhausting the faculties of his mind in deductions, a priori reasonings, comparisons and flights of fancy, he （機の）カム to a 結論. In all other 事件／事情／状勢s of the 肉親，親類d that he had ever heard of, there were innocent people. There were indeed more innocent people than 犯罪のs, and up to the last moment before the police pounced, the 長，指導者 instigator had often an outward 外見 of propriety and lawful behaviour as 完全にする as a churchwarden's. Mr. Charles Peace was the historic example. But the 事件／事情／状勢 of Suvlac was unique in that there didn't seem to be one innocent person about the place. The nearer you was 明確に the warmest 構成要素 ever known. Evelyn Devenish had certainly not a nice nature; whilst Joyce, of the 宙返り／暴落するd bed, 削減する and charming as she was, had a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 to explain before 約束 in her could be said to be 堅固に 設立するd. Mr. Ricardo had clung to the belief that the scion of the Crusades would be 設立する true to the traditions of his nobility. But even that 支え（る） had been knocked away. The Vicomte Cassandre de Mirandol of the trembling 手渡すs was no better than the 残り／休憩（する） of them. Mr. Ricardo had now very little 疑問 that five minutes of intimate conversation with old Mrs. Tasborough would even 証明する her to be sunk in a profligacy as 深遠な.

"Everyone at the Ch穰eau Suvlac is tainted," he cried aloud with a despairing sweep of his arm; and at that moment Hanaud opened the door and walked into the room with that default in 儀式 which Mr. Ricardo so 厳粛に 嘆き悲しむd.

"One knocks upon a door," he said, the tips of his fingers playing with a match-box. "One asks 許可 to enter—"

"And one 現在のs a gentleman of the highest importance," Hanaud said serenely.

A smallish, wiry man in the fifties, with a clean shaven, rather 狭くする 直面する, and a pair of 注目する，もくろむs of an extraordinarily piercing blue, entered the room. He was dressed in a dark 控訴 of tweed with a 二塁打-breasted jacket, and from the dust and disorder of his dress and a grimy look he had, it was （疑いを）晴らす that he had only this minute come to the end of a long 旅行. He （機の）カム in reluctantly and regarded Mr. Ricardo with no particular favour. Hanaud の近くにd the door and Ricardo 招待するd his unknown guest to an arm-議長，司会を務める. But the man shook his 長，率いる.

"I'll sit there," he said in a hard, grating 発言する／表明する, and pointed to a 議長，司会を務める at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. He laid 負かす／撃墜する his hat.

"This is Monsieur Dennis Blackett," said Hanaud. "Some について言及する of the 悲劇の death of Madame Devenish appeared yesterday in a late 版 of one of the evening papers in London. Monsieur Blackett started by aeroplane last night."

"I went at once to the 県 from the aerodrome," Dennis Blackett continued, "and 設立する this gentleman there who is in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the 事例／患者. I speak very little French, and I understand from Mr. Hanaud that though his knowledge of English is much wider than his countrymen usually 所有する, there might be an idiom or two used with which he was not familiar—" Dennis Blackett stopped and looked about the room to discover the 推論する／理由 for the stupefaction which overspread Ricardo's 直面する.

Mr. Ricardo, indeed, nearly fell off his 議長，司会を務める; so 圧倒するd was he by such an amazing 自白 on the part of his friend. "Your idioms! I know him!" How often had he 苦しむd under that phrase, and still more under the dreadful distortion of the English language which invariably followed! Yet here was Hanaud admitting his inadequacy! It seemed incredible. It was incredible, and 突然の Ricardo realized why the admission had been made. It was an 行為／法令／行動する of friendship. It was the only possible excuse which Hanaud could 申し込む／申し出 for Ricardo's presence at this interview. He was keeping his dear Mr. Ricardo along with himself in the very 厚い of the mystery. Ricardo directed に向かって the 探偵，刑事 a look of 承認 and 感謝; and Dennis Blackett 再開するd:

"He について言及するd that you were his friend, and since I don't wish what I have to say to go その上の than is necessary, I was 感謝する to 受託する his suggestion that you should 行為／法令／行動する as interpreter."

He took the 議長，司会を務める at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する to which he had pointed. Mr. Ricardo's stupefaction at Hanaud's amazing 展示 of modesty was transferred to Dennis Blackett. There was not a trace of any feeling either in his 発言する／表明する or in his 直面する. He might have been speaking of some not very important 取引，協定 in 株 instead of about the 残虐な 殺人 of his daughter. Ricardo had to 軍隊 himself to realize that this man had started off at no more than the notice of an hour or so upon his long aeroplane 旅行 to Bordeaux.

Hanaud drew up a third 議長，司会を務める to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. "I have not one 期待 of what Mr. Blackett is to tell us. But I 約束 him now that, apart from us three and Monsieur Tidon, the 診察するing 治安判事, no one shall know anything except what in the 利益／興味s of 司法（官） must be known. So!" And he turned to Dennis Blackett, who 再開するd at once:

"You have heard, I understand, what 行方不明になる Tasborough knew of the estrangement between my daughter and myself. But neither she nor anybody else in the world, except my daughter and myself, knew the whole truth. I was never and am not now 関心d to defend myself against any 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of harshness, and she for her own sake would be 確かな to keep her mouth shut. I am breaking this long silence because I want her 殺害者 brought to 司法（官） and 死刑執行"—though there was no break in the flow of his grating 発言する／表明する, a faint tinge of colour crept into his white 直面する, and his lips 強化するd—"and what I have to tell you, for all I know, may help."

He paused for a few moments to arrange the order of his 宣告，判決s. Mr. Ricardo hitched his 議長，司会を務める closer to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, the epicurean of sensations in him savouring the moment and rejoicing in its retardation. Hanaud sat like 石／投石する, his 注目する，もくろむs upon Dennis Blackett's 直面する.

"From the day of my daughter's birth"—and it was noticeable that never once would he pronounce her 指名する—"I began to collect pearls, so that she might have a string of them 価値（がある） having upon her twenty-first birthday. I took a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 of trouble in their 選択. I bought four or five a year, and when that birthday party 組み立てる／集結するd in Morven, on the Sound of 検討する，考慮する, I had in the house a very 価値のある string for her, consisting of a hundred and twenty large pearls, carefully 卒業生（する）d in size and of a 潔白 and a lustre which could hardly be equalled even amongst the treasures of the 広大な／多数の／重要な 統治するing Houses. I had made no secret of my 意向 so far as my daughter was 関心d. She knew of it. She knew that I meant to give it to her on the morning of her birthday. But the night before"—he moistened his lips with the tip of his tongue —"she stole it. When she and her lover sailed 負かす／撃墜する the Sound and across Loch Linnhe to Oban, she took that necklace with her."

Dennis Blackett looked 負かす／撃墜する at his 手渡すs which 残り／休憩（する）d on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in 前線 of him, loosely clasped together; and Mr. Ricardo, に引き続いて the direction of his 注目する，もくろむs, had for the second time the 適切な時期 of 観察するing what 反逆者s the 手渡すs can be. Not an inflection of Blackett's 発言する／表明する, not an 表現 upon his 直面する, 伝えるd anything more than that he was putting a 公正に／かなり 利益／興味ing proposition before a couple of 商売／仕事 associates. But his 手渡すs betrayed him. They were ever so わずかに trembling.

"I said nothing aloud," he 再開するd. "But I whispered in 私的な to the 売買業者s in Hatton Garden and the jewellers. Pearls of value are known. A good pearl can no more get away from its history and colour and 負わせる than one of Monsieur Hanaud's （弁護士の）依頼人s can get away from his 指紋s and his previous 有罪の判決s. I was pretty sure that this string would, sooner or later, and sooner rather than later, come into the market; and I didn't want anyone-else ever to wear it. It was twenty-one years of my life. But don't misunderstand me, please!" and he 解除するd his 注目する，もくろむs from his 手渡すs to the 直面するs of the two men who were listening.

Both of them were sitting, careful not by a gesture or a change of 態度 to interrupt the curious story. They were spellbound by this 静める, smooth 発覚 of himself by a man who surely had never stripped himself so 明らかにする before. Nor did they answer him now.

"No. I was not moved by any 感情," Dennis Blackett explained. "To me, the necklace was the proof of a gigantic folly. And it 存在するd—out there in the world. I was uncomfortable. I 手配中の，お尋ね者 it 支援する. I 手配中の，お尋ね者 it sunk at the 底（に届く） of the Sound of 検討する，考慮する. It was like a 妥協ing letter which a man has once written and knows to be in 存在, and will 支払う／賃金 to get 支援する. The message I sent far and wide through the 売買業者s was that I would 支払う／賃金 for that necklace if it was brought to me 完全にする—the hundred and twenty pearls and not one 行方不明の. One 行方不明の meant a 宣告，判決 of my 妥協ing letter torn off and kept. 井戸／弁護士席, a fortnight ago the necklace was 申し込む／申し出d to an important jeweller in this town. It was 申し込む／申し出d at a price far below its value. For some 推論する／理由, perhaps because it was 申し込む／申し出d at so low a price, the jeweller hesitated. But eleven days ago it was 申し込む／申し出d to him again. He knew 正確に／まさに what it was. He knew that he could make his 利益（をあげる） on it. And this time he bought it. Two days later I learnt that it was in his 所有／入手. I telegraphed to him to keep it until the end of the month, when I should be 解放する／自由な to come out in person, 保証する myself that it was in very truth my 妥協ing letter, and take it 支援する with me. But this"—and for the fraction of a second the man of アイロンをかける did flinch—"this 残虐な 殺人 示唆するs to me that perhaps before the sale there was a 窃盗. If so the jeweller might help you."

"The 指名する of that jeweller, monsieur?" Hanaud asked.

"Domenique Pouchette, Al馥s de Tourny."

"I shall send for him and for the necklace at once," said Hanaud.

Dennis Blackett got up from his 議長，司会を務める. "I have been travelling without intermission for nearly twenty-four hours," he said. "I should like a bath and a meal and a change of 着せる／賦与するs. It is now six o'clock. If the jeweller can come at seven, I shall be better 用意が出来ている to 会合，会う him."

Hanaud was 明確に in a fret, and Dennis Blackett 圧力（をかける）d his point with a smile. "I am really at the end of my 資源s, Mr. Hanaud. The entr'行為／法令／行動する of an hour is very necessary."

Indeed, now that his story had been spoken, exhaustion had got the upper 手渡す with him. He moved with a 滞るing step to the door. Hanaud sprang 今後 and rang the bell.

"Monsieur's 控訴-事例／患者 has been taken to his room?" he asked of the waiter. "Yes?" and he turned to Dennis Blackett. "In an hour's time, then, and 一方／合間 I beg you to 保証する yourself of my 感謝 and 尊敬（する）・点."

"That's all 権利," said Blackett, and he reeled rather than walked out of the room.

CHAPTER 17. — HOW A JEWELLER PAYS HIS TAXES

DOMENIQUE POUCHETTE, a big, formal man with a square brown 耐えるd, dressed in an old-fashioned frock-coat of broadcloth, 屈服するd from the doorway, relieved Moreau of a small 黒人／ボイコット 簡潔な／要約する 捕らえる、獲得する and placed it upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. Moreau, then, at a nod from Hanaud, went out of the room and の近くにd the door. Domenique Pouchette took a small 重要な from his waistcoat pocket, 打ち明けるd the 捕らえる、獲得する and 解除するd out of it a jewel-事例／患者. He looked in turn at Hanaud, at Ricardo, at Dennis Blackett, and then without any hesitation 申し込む／申し出d the 事例／患者 to the last of the three. The 事例／患者 was worn, the leather here and there broken, and for a moment or two Blackett turned it over in his 手渡すs, 縮むing from 開始 it. He unfastened the catch with an abrupt and violent movement, and taking out the necklace let the smooth, softly gleaming beads slip between his fingers. He was smiling now rather 激しく. They were the twenty-one years of his life. Each bead celebrated some shrewd 一打／打撃 of 商売／仕事, brought to its culmination after much 労働, and all for the sake of the idolized daughter.

"Yes, this is the string. Here is the diamond clasp with her 初期の 'E'"; and he dropped it on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and looked at it as though it were an iridescent adder with a forked tongue ready to strike.

"So!" said Hanaud. "We are sure of this first 条件. The necklace belonged to Madame Devenish. Now for you, Monsieur Pouchette. You hesitated to buy it even at a price far below its value. Why?"

"It was 申し込む／申し出d to me," the 売買業者 returned carefully, "by someone about whom I was not やめる 満足させるd."

"A man or a woman?"

"A woman."

"A young woman?"

"No."

The answer, reluctantly given, was a surprise to all sitting around that （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, but 特に to Mr. Ricardo. He had been working out in his mind the dates which Blackett had given. The day on which he had seen Evelyn Devenish in the 洞穴 of the Mummies fitted in with them very 井戸／弁護士席. He had had no 疑問 up to this moment that it was Evelyn Devenish herself who had sold the string of pearls to Pouchette, and that she had travelled to Bordeaux upon that day 正確に to sell them.

"An old woman then," cried Hanaud with a touch of exasperation in his 発言する／表明する. "Let me hear about her, if you please. Who she is and why you 不信d her."

"A little moment," the jeweller 反対するd, 圧力（をかける）ing neatly the finger-tips of one 手渡す against the fingertips of the other. "My 商売／仕事 伴う／関わるs many confidential communications and could hardly 栄える if secrecy were not 観察するd. I am in a difficulty. Between myself and my 顧客 there must be the same 肉親，親類d of 関係 as between doctor and 患者."

"I am afraid that the 法律 cannot 認める that 関係," said Hanaud, whose patience was wearing thin. "You will be good enough to tell me all that you know about this woman."

"Know?" Pouchette seemed to be 選ぶing up the word delicately. "I really know nothing."

"All that you 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う then."

Domenique Pouchette looked this way and that way. He caressed his 耐えるd with soft 一打／打撃s of his 手渡す.

"疑惑s may land a man in the most unpleasant position. I 招待する you to excuse me."

"And I 招待する you not to waste my time," Hanaud suddenly bellowed across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. "What? Here is a 罪，犯罪 committed and we are to be held up by the scruples of a jeweller!"

"A 罪，犯罪?" Pouchette exclaimed, やめる taken aback.

"井戸／弁護士席? You have read of it in your morning's paper. You heard me speak the 指名する of the owner of this necklace a minute ago —Madame Devenish."

"Monsieur must 容赦 me—I did not connect the 指名する with the 罪，犯罪 of Suvlac," stammered Pouchette the jeweller.

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Will you too try to play the fox with me? Let us have no more scrupulosities, my friend. Come, who was this woman?"

No 疑問 Pouchette might have 拒絶する／低下するd to answer to anyone but a 裁判官; and Hanaud's blusterings 示唆するd certainly to one listener in that room that he was aware of the doubtful ground on which he stood. But Domenique Pouchette, since now he must be brought into the 事件／事情／状勢, was shrewd enough to realize that his inconvenience would be the いっそう少なく, the more whole-heartedly he was on the 味方する of the police.

"It was the 未亡人 Chicholle who brought the necklace to me."

"The 未亡人 Chicholle," Hanaud repeated slowly, like a man searching amongst his memories. He shook his 長，率いる. "She is unknown to me."

"It is true that she has never, so far as I know, taken her seat on the （法廷の）裁判 of the （刑事）被告," Pouchette continued. "But it does not follow that she has therefore a good 指名する. And I tell you 率直に, Monsieur Hanaud, that the 指名する of the 未亡人 Chicholle is scabrous. She is of the bad ４半期/4分の1s of this town. You will hear of her only very 深い 負かす／撃墜する in the 暗黒街."

"Yet you know of her, Monsieur Pouchette."

"I shall explain that to you," Pouchette returned, 熱望して stretching out his 武器 に向かって Hanaud, so that the sleeves of his coat shrank 支援する, and the cuffs of his shirt 発射 out. "There is no difficulty. A little moment! Once or twice she has come to me and always very 個人として and always with something of value to sell. I knew nothing about her. I said after 診察するing her wares: 'I do not know whether I can 配置する／処分する／したい気持ちにさせる of this. Take it away and come 支援する to me in three days' time.' From time to time, as no one knows better than you, Monsieur Hanaud, we receive our little 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）s from the police of jewellery which has been stolen or lost. Always I looked through my 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） very carefully. Never did I find any description corresponding to the pieces 申し込む／申し出d to me by the 未亡人 Chicholle. Even then I had my scruples. I made it my 商売／仕事 to find out who was this 未亡人 Chicholle. Yes— I 収容する／認める it to you—her 指名する stank like an onion. Her house had a dark and evil 指名する. No, she was not reputable. So when after three days she （機の）カム again I asked her 厳しく how she had come into 所有／入手 of these 価値のある things. She had her explanation. 確かな ladies wished from time to time to 配置する／処分する／したい気持ちにさせる of part of their jewellery without publicity. She received a little （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 on the sale for 会合 their wishes. There it was—an explanation feasible—enough. These 罰金 ladies have their little 事件／事情／状勢s. I for my part had my 商売／仕事."

"I do not know whether I can 配置する／処分する／したい気持ちにさせる of this necklace."
M. Pouchette temporized warily. "Come 支援する in a few days."

Monsieur Domenique Pouchette smiled. Nothing could have been more frank and loyal than his demeanour. He was the honest 商売／仕事 man keeping within the 法律, and 耐えるing his 株 of the enormous 重荷（を負わせる） of the 国家の 課税 by assiduously 押し進めるing along with his 商売／仕事.

"So I put my delicate shades of feeling into my pocket and these 罰金 little pieces of jewellery too. But there （機の）カム an occasion. Perhaps I took the 指示／教授／教育s of the police too much at the foot of the letter. I don't know. Perhaps I should have given to them a wider connotation. You shall tell me," and he directed a dazzling smile at Hanaud's immobile 直面する. He was a conscientious tradesman anxious to be 訂正するd if he had construed in too literal a spirit the 推薦s of the 当局.

"I will tell you," said Hanaud stonily.

"That will be 肉親，親類d," the 感謝する Pouchette 発言／述べるd. "井戸／弁護士席, the 未亡人 Chicholle brought to me a （犯罪の）一味 in which was 始める，決める, amongst some brilliants of no particular value, a very beautiful big emerald. It was, so far as I could see, やめる flawless, and you gentlemen will know how very difficult it is to find an emerald without a 欠陥. It was of the deepest, purest green, and a 炎上 burnt within it. It was a 石／投石する for a rajah. It was, I think, a 現在の FROM a rajah."

And suddenly Hanaud, who had been sitting still as a mummy, with his 手渡すs upon the 武器 of his 議長，司会を務める, heaved himself out of his seat and stood 築く, 星／主役にするing at the jeweller.

"To Jeanne Corisot?" he said in a strangled 発言する／表明する.

"I imagined so. That little lady was, I believe, in Bordeaux during the 早期に summer."

Jeanne Corisot was one of those golden-haired 惑星s which 炎上 very prettily for a season in midnight skies. At Bordeaux you may perhaps catch a glimpse of them if you are fortunate, but the line of totality where you can see them at their brightest runs from Deauville across Paris to Monte Carlo. 駅／配置するd at one of those famous viewpoints you will see them, 別館ing fresh 衛星s as they curve and 炎 and 暴動 and 原因（となる） a good 取引，協定 of 騒動 amongst the sedater 惑星s. In the end they 衝突，墜落 into the moon they have always been asking for, or the earth or 火星, and go whirling away into 不明瞭, dropping into this or that pawnbroker's shop their bits of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 as they go. Jeanne Corisot had 中止するd to 統治する over her Eastern prince some six months 支援する. She had dropped out of the firmament—to what dark 位置／汚点／見つけ出す no one knew and no one cared. For other lustrous 星／主役にするs, 有望な from 青年's 造幣局, were trying their curves and gyrations within the 範囲 of 見通し. Jeanne Corisot was "one of those ladies," as politeness puts it やめる 十分に, and her day was just over.

So much Mr. Ricardo, the man of the world, knew. He knew that it was in the nature of things that she should begin to sell here and there 逸脱する pieces of her jewellery. What he did not understand was why Hanaud should make such a pother of an everyday 事件／事情／状勢. There he was, startled by a surprising 発覚, looking rather terrible, yes, and rather 脅すd too. Hanaud lowered himself slowly into his 議長，司会を務める.

"井戸／弁護士席?" he said.

"井戸／弁護士席," Pouchette 再開するd. "I did not take that emerald. I did not 申し込む／申し出 a price for it. No. I said to the 未亡人 Chicholle: 'Bring it to me in three days' time.' I had an idea that that （犯罪の）一味 was on my 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of jewels which were 行方不明の. And it was. Yes, Monsieur Hanaud, I took the 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） from my 安全な the moment the 未亡人 Chicholle had gone; and there it was."

"And you didn't 知らせる the police," said Hanaud.

"Ah!"

Domenique Pouchette brought his 議長，司会を務める a little nearer to Hanaud's. He turned に向かって him confidently and innocently smiling.

"It is there that I should welcome your advice. I read the police notices with the greatest care. They were very （疑いを）晴らす. I was to 知らせる the Prefect of Police the moment that any of these pieces of jewellery （機の）カム into my 所有／入手. Those were the words. But this （犯罪の）一味 had not come into my 所有／入手. Nor did it ever. For of course I 辞退するd it three days later. It may be that I should have 始める，決める a more 自由主義の meaning upon that phrase. I don't know. I argued to myself: 'The police know what they want. Who am I that I should know better than they?' Now you shall tell me whether I was 権利 or wrong," and Pouchette leaned 支援する, still やめる innocent and smiling.

Hanaud, however, 小衝突d the question aside. He asked another instead. "When 正確に／まさに did this woman Chicholle 申し込む／申し出 you this （犯罪の）一味?"

"A little moment!"

Pouchette drew from his waistcoat pocket a tiny diary and 協議するd it. "It was on the second day of June. I can 直す／買収する，八百長をする the date. For I had been that morning to an important 昼食 of my 商売／仕事 associates at the 'Chapon Fin.' The 未亡人 Chicholle （機の）カム that night at ten o'clock."

Hanaud raised his eyebrows. "A late hour, Monsieur Pouchette, for you to remain at your office."

Just for a moment Domenique Pouchette showed 調印するs of 不快. "She （機の）カム to my apartment, not my office."

The admission was やめる enough for Hanaud. He 受託するd it. It threw perhaps a rather 悪意のある hue upon the 関係 between the 未亡人 Chicholle and Domenique Pouchette the jeweller. The 未亡人 Chicholle brought her wares in the 不明瞭—yes! And Domenique practised a 控えめの silence when wares were 申し込む／申し出d to him which it would be imprudent to buy—yes! These little 事柄s might be considered later on. 一方／合間 there was the 圧力（をかける）ing need of Joyce Whipple, who must be 設立する somewhere hidden under all this litter of 罪，犯罪 and dishonesty.

"And so you 辞退するd the emerald of Jeanne Corisot, Monsieur Pouchette. Yes, I understand that. And you were very careful, henceforth, how you dealt with the 未亡人 Chicholle. But you took the necklace of Evelyn Devenish."

"Yes!" Monsieur Pouchette rose from his disculpations with a gasp of 救済 like a swimmer from a dive in 深い waters. "The police were unconcerned about that necklace. I made sure. It 人物／姿／数字d in no 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）. But I knew that a Mr. Dennis Blackett would give a price for it. So I bought it," he rose from his 議長，司会を務める, "and perhaps Mr. Dennis Blackett will do me the honour tomorrow to consider with me the price which should be paid."

He took up the necklace from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in 前線 of Dennis Blackett, let it ripple and gleam and 消える into its 事例／患者, just as a viper will slip into a bush, and was about to 回復する the 事例／患者 to the 捕らえる、獲得する when Hanaud reached out a 手渡す.

"I will take it into my 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金. I shall give you a 領収書 for it. There are 証言，証人／目撃するs here who will 耐える you out that I have taken it."

He wrote 速く on a paper at a 令状ing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, subscribed his 指名する and brought the paper 支援する to Pouchette.

"Now I shall ask you for the 演説（する）／住所 of the 未亡人 Chicholle."

Monsieur Pouchette considered. No one of those 現在の 疑問d what he was considering. Would it be 慎重な to 否定する all knowledge of that old woman's 演説（する）／住所? Could he say "I was careful as a 商売／仕事 man to 陳列する，発揮する very little 利益／興味 in her position and surroundings" and get away with such a defence? On the whole—no, definitely no!

"It is not in one of our best streets that this woman resides," he replied with a shrug of the shoulders.

"I am sure of that," said Hanaud.

"She lives in the street Gr馮oire."

"And the street Gr馮oire?" Hanaud asked, 令状ing the 指名する 負かす／撃墜する.

"Lies over there," said Domenique Pouchette, pointing to the window 開始 on the Cours de L'Intendance. "To the east of us. It is in the parish of St. Michel. It runs from a little square in that parish, tall and 狭くする and dark, to the quays."

And Mr. Ricardo could 抑える himself no longer. The parish of St. Michel? Very 井戸／弁護士席, then! The street Gr馮oire was の近くに to the 洞穴 of the Mummies.

"You bought the necklace on the Monday of last week, then?" he cried to Pouchette. "Today is Friday. Eleven days ago you bought that necklace?" he cried excitedly.

Domenique Pouchette replied:

"A little moment!" and he 協議するd his diary once more. To Mr. Ricardo in his excitement the sight of the tiny 調書をとる／予約する manipulated by the jeweller's big splay finders was incongruous, absurd.

"I made a 公式文書，認める—yes. It was brought to me first on a Friday. I bought it on the Monday—just eleven days ago," answered Domenique, watching this new 関係者 in the discussion warily, and 推測するing why the date should so excite him. But Mr. Ricardo had 注目する，もくろむs only for Hanaud. Another link in the chain was 存在 運ぶ／漁獲高d up within his 見通し.

"You remember?" he cried. "It was at the Tower of St. Michel that I saw Evelyn Devenish that afternoon. She had 手渡すd over her necklace to the 未亡人 Chicholle in the street Gr馮oire. She was on her way 支援する—"

And Hanaud interrupted him with a nod of the 長，率いる. "She was on her way 支援する," he repeated, "the price paid, eh? She visits the 洞穴 of the Mummies. She sighs that long-drawn sigh of longing that the days of such cruel 罰s might come again— eh? Is that the truth at the end of it all?"—and he looked across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, his 注目する，もくろむs 燃やすing in his 大規模な 長，率いる, his 直面する white with horror. "Was the price paid just that those days might return?—But then—Yes, but then—!"

Mr. Ricardo could fill up these broken 宣告，判決s. But then .. it was Evelyn Devenish who was destroyed. Did she 計画（する） and 支払う／賃金 for the 罰 of Joyce Whipple? Did that murderous ちらりと見ること in the 製図／抽選-room at Suvlac mean that fulfilment was nearly —But then—it was Evelyn Devenish of the 厳しいd 手渡す who was the 犠牲者—of a sadic vengeance.

All this while Domenique Pouchette was 一打／打撃ing his brown 耐えるd nervously and ちらりと見ることing from one to another of his companions at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. There were questions 存在 asked here with which he wished from the 底（に届く） of his heart to have nothing to do. He rose from his 議長，司会を務める.

"If I may go now? There are some small 事柄s of 商売／仕事 waiting for me. And I have my office to の近くに."

Hanaud looked at him with more good—nature than Ricardo had 推定する／予想するd. There was even a trace of a smile upon his lips.

"Yes. After all, you have made no difficulties for me. You might have 抗議するd that you would say nothing except before the Juge d'指示／教授／教育 and in the presence of your 合法的な 助言者. I shall remember that in your favour. You should, of course, have 通知するd the police the moment that 罰金 emerald was 申し込む／申し出d to you. But yes, life is difficult and 税金s are high. Run along with you!"

No schoolboy at the hour of 解放（する） could have disappeared from his class-room with the celerity now 陳列する，発揮するd by Domenique Pouchette.

"That poor devil! We give him the shock! He will go by the foot of the letter," Hanaud said with a grin. "Now we turn to our small 事柄s of 商売／仕事," and he raised his 発言する／表明する. "Moreau!"

Moreau, who had been standing 歩哨 outside the door, was on the inside of it like a genius in an Arabian tale.

"The 未亡人 Chicholle in the Rue Gr馮oire," Hanaud recited as he wrote hurriedly. "You have a gendarme with you? Yes. You will send him at the 体操の step to Monsieur Le Prefet with this letter. Very 静かに and carefully the house of the 未亡人 Chicholle must be watched 今後—a man at the end of the street on the quay, another in the little square at the 長，率いる of the street, and the house itself. A good man in 支配（する）／統制する. No 活動／戦闘 to be taken—except under necessity. But word to come to me of any 訪問者s."

He 調印（する）d up his 公式文書，認める and 手渡すd it to Moreau. Then he turned to Dennis Blackett.

"To you, monsieur, all my thanks. We shall do what we can. 一方／合間 you will stay in Bordeaux?"

"Yes, here," said Dennis Blackett.

"Good! For you, Mr. Ricardo, I shall ask you to dine with me and now. At my little hotel. It is not so magnificent as this, but one eats 井戸／弁護士席, and when there is much work to be done it is wise to eat 井戸／弁護士席 before we begin it."

There was a 公式文書，認める of excitement in his 発言する／表明する, his 注目する，もくろむs had the curiously 有望な and rather cruel look of a retriever's when a gun is brought into its 見解（をとる）. He was as Ricardo had seen him twenty times when the bits of the puzzle were 落ちるing into their places and the whole picture was there for a shrewd 注目する，もくろむ to 心配する. Hanaud, in a word, was in a mood which 課すd upon any true friend of his the 義務 of 安定したing him, and Mr. Ricardo was not the man to flinch from the 仕事.

"There is something to be done, my good friend, before we dine," he said. "I do not 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 you with carelessness. No, you have so much to think of. It is 必然的な that from time to time some important 警戒 should be neglected."

A subtle change （機の）カム over Hanaud. His 信用／信任 消えるd. His 発言する／表明する proceeded to shake with 苦悩. "A 警戒 which I omit?" he cried despairingly. It seemed that he would 涙／ほころび his hair out by the roots. "Tell met I am in the dust at your feet!"

Mr. Ricardo smiled graciously.

"There is no need for any heroics. The omission can tonight no 疑問 be 修理d. The moment of forgetfulness might have happened to anyone. I am, of course, speaking of the patron and the 乗組員 of the gabare which left the tiny ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる at Suvlac against the tide hours before the appropriate time of casting off."

The liveliest 失望 chased from Hanaud's 直面する the eager 願望（する） to 修理 a fault. He shook his 長，率いる reproachfully. He spoke dejectedly. "My dear friend—the gabare—and is that all? But, of course—of course—the patron and his two sons have been locked up in separate 独房s ever since their arrival in Bordeaux yesterday evening. They will not even be able to 運動 Le Petit Mousse in the 地方自治体の Gardens on Sunday afternoon. You will come with me?"

Mr. Ricardo, かなり abashed, answered with humility.

"Yes. A little moment"—he was rather taken with Domenique Pouchette's favourite phrase—"a little moment to wash the 手渡すs."

"Two little moments," replied Hanaud, "and you will order perhaps your car. I am a snob. Yes. I prefer to ride in a Rolls-Royce. Besides, it goes very 急速な／放蕩な, without seeming to go 急速な／放蕩な at all—and—and—we shall have need to go 急速な／放蕩な and far tonight!"

There was a thrill in Hanaud's 発言する／表明する, a gleam in his 注目する，もくろむs which 分散させるd in an instant Mr. Ricardo's ill-humour. He had been inclined to be touchy over this 事柄 of the gabare. He took it rather as an offence that Hanaud had remembered to lay his 手渡すs upon it and its 乗組員. The gabare was his 出資／貢献 to the elucidation of the 事例／患者, and he resented the fact that the 出資／貢献 had already been made by someone else. But Hanaud was 明白に up on the tips of his toes. He was going to bowl the wickets 負かす／撃墜する. He had the 手段 of his enemies. He was to be swift and terrible.

"Yes," cried Ricardo in an enthusiasm, running to the door and ordering his car and running 支援する again. "The Rolls-Royce is yours. You shall give the orders to my chauffeur. You shall own it. We go 急速な／放蕩な and far tonight!"

"But not at once, my friend. In an hour and a half at the 'Golden Pheasant.' Even then he will wait," Hanaud replied. "For in this we shall be different from Domenique Pouchette. We shall not の近くに our offices tonight."

CHAPTER 18. — HANAUD DINES

THE small hotel at which Hanaud put up was on the 辛勝する／優位 of the spacious Place des Quinconces and opposite to the 広大な／多数の／重要な white 記念の to the Girondins. A restaurant 占領するd the ground 床に打ち倒す and Hanaud and Mr. Ricardo sat 負かす／撃墜する by the open window. Outside, a few marble-topped （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs and アイロンをかける 議長，司会を務めるs were 範囲d upon the pavement beneath an awning, but two men only were drinking an aperitif at one of them, and they were out of earshot.

"Let us follow their example," said Hanaud, after he had ordered dinner. "Some vermouth, I think. Yes, I 約束 you we shall eat 井戸／弁護士席 here."

He tore open a new 有望な blue packet of Maryland cigarettes and smoked one of the 黒人／ボイコット tubes of タバコ contentedly. Hanaud was not perhaps as marvellous as he invariably, his assistant Moreau 一般に, and Mr. Ricardo いつかs thought him to be. But he had one 質 without which greatness is seldom 設立する. He could disburden himself of all his 苦悩s the moment there （機の）カム an interval in his 労働s. As the clock struck he の近くにd his 調書をとる／予約する and was in the playing-fields. He leaned 支援する in his 議長，司会を務める, smoothing out his mind and laving it in the peace of that 広大な quincunx of trees and of the river running red に向かって the sunset. Mr. Ricardo, however, had not the professional mind. He must always be busy, and the river with its 負担 of 広大な／多数の／重要な ships only 解任するd to him the pastoral reaches beyond the city and 始める，決める before his 注目する，もくろむs a big wicker basket gently 激しく揺するing nearer and nearer to a bank of grass.

"You must tell me where we go to-night after we have dined," he cried. "Not to know is more than I can 耐える."

Hanaud （機の）カム out of an abstraction very slowly. "Where do we go?" he repeated, with an 空気／公表する of 深遠な astonishment. He looked anxiously at Ricardo, reached out a 手渡す and felt his pulse. "You ask me that now that all this cloud of mystery is （疑いを）晴らすing away? There can be but the one place."

"You can keep it to yourself if you want to, just as I like to keep my pulse to myself," Mr. Ricardo 再結合させるd sulkily, as he wrenched his 手渡す away.

"Hanaud was wrong," the 探偵，刑事 exclaimed with his detestable habit of speaking of himself in the third person. "Hanaud should have recollected that he was in the proud position of 存在 Mr. Ricardo's host. Instead he must be the cat with the mouse—not nice—no!" He saw indignation 集会 on Mr. Ricardo's brow at the use of so objectionable a simile, and 急いでd on: "I tell you where we go. We go to the Ch穰eau Mirandol and we interrupt the Vicomte in the 行為／法令／行動する of 令状ing a most 利益／興味ing paper on the esoteric 儀式s of the Rosicrucians, to be read to the young ladies of Bordeaux. And then we ask him very politely to show us that upper room where, two nights ago, the lights 炎d to so late an hour."

The トン of Hanaud's 発言する／表明する more even than his words opened a tiny window in his companion's mind. He saw again the long 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of lights 炎ing across the sleeping country. What was going on in that big room? What strange 儀式 was 存在 行為／行うd? For him too little pieces of the puzzle began to 落ちる into their places —the 窃盗 and the return of the priest's vestments, the priest's obstinate strange silence, Hanaud's visit this morning to the Archiepiscopal Palace.

"Then you think—?" he exclaimed, and sat 星／主役にするing at his friend, on the brink, as he felt, of some dreadful 発覚.

Hanaud nodded his 長，率いる. "What took place two nights ago took place in that long upper room."

"The 殺人 of Evelyn Devenish?"

"Yes."

"And of—no, I won't believe that!"

Hanaud's 直面する grew dark and savage. He raised his 手渡す and let it 落ちる again. "About that I can tell you no more than you can tell yourself. For I don't know! I don't understand!" he cried in a sudden exasperation; and he sat with 暗い／優うつな 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する-cloth and his big 直面する working. After a moment or two he leaned 今後 and whispered: "We two shall make a little 祈り each in his own heart, that the 勇敢に立ち向かう Joyce Whipple shall tell us all we want to know with her own lips before the morning comes."

He drew quickly 支援する as the proprietor approached the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with his little dishes of radishes and 黒人／ボイコット olives. "Come! Let us eat! We shall be fit for nothing unless we do."

Hanaud had prophesied truly. One ate 井戸／弁護士席 at the little restaurant of the "Golden Pheasant," though the only waiter was the proprietor in a tweed 控訴, and each step that he took sounded upon 明らかにする boards. Mr. Ricardo realized that he had eaten nothing that day except a very small 昼食 at the "Chapon Fin"; whilst Hanaud had all the 外見 of having eaten nothing for a year.

"This lobster 枢機けい／主要な is delicious," Mr. Ricardo 観察するd, and very regrettably with his mouth 十分な. He was already taking a rosier 予期 of the night's adventure.

"It is not so bad," Hanaud agreed. "There is a caneton de la 圧力（をかける） to follow with a salad."

"Admirable," said Ricardo.

The proprietor brought tenderly to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する a 黒人／ボイコット 瓶／封じ込める in a wicker cradle, and laid it 負かす／撃墜する as though it were a baby and he its loving nurse. "I thought that it would be appropriate on this night of all nights," said Hanaud, "if we drank a 瓶／封じ込める of old Mirandol. It is a second growth, to be sure, but によれば many 裁判官s should be classed with the first. You shall tell me!"

Yes, it was Mr. Ricardo's turn to tell. He was on his own ground. The red ワインs of the M馘oc! Not for nothing had he travelled once a year from Bordeaux to Arcachon! Hanaud tipped a tablespoonful first into his own glass and then filled Mr. Ricardo's. Mr. Ricardo beamed. Good manners and good ワイン— could there be a more 望ましい 合同? He held the glass up to the light. The ワイン was ruby-red, ruby-（疑いを）晴らす. He lowered it to his nostrils and savoured its aroma. "Exquisite," he said. Then religiously he drank of it. "Adorable!" he cried; and drank again. He swam 上向きs into rosy clouds. That little 事件／事情／状勢 at Suvlac would be settled in no time. "A ワイン for two friends to drink in a rapturous silence by the 味方する of an historic square in la belle フラン."

It was a pity that he must end his flight of poesy with so dreadful a banality as "la belle フラン." But that was his way, and Hanaud took the compliment to himself as though he was la belle フラン all in one. And that was Hanaud's way too. "The cellar here is not so bad," he 発言／述べるd. Ricardo drank again, and after much rolling of the ワイン upon his tongue, put 負かす／撃墜する the glass with a vigour which 脅すd to break the 茎・取り除く.

"It is '93," he 宣言するd; and Hanaud 屈服するd in 賞賛 of the subtle palate of his friend. Oh, certainly, Ricardo 反映するd, stretching out his 脚s beneath, the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, with the 広大な／多数の／重要な 探偵，刑事 of フラン to begin with, and a friend who could 発表する 権利 off the year of a '93 claret to help him, the mystery of Suvlac was as good as solved, the 犯罪のs 事実上 in the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる.

"To the 未亡人 Chicholle," he said, leaning 今後 cunningly and 持つ／拘留するing up his 補充するd glass.

"But certainly," Hanaud returned. "To the 未亡人 Chicholle!"

The word, however, brought to him no gaiety. It brought him a 黒人／ボイコット mood. He 拒絶する／低下するd into a vein of self-disparagement very unusual with him. "I think myself a very 罰金 fellow, of course," he said, "and so do you."

"I don't やめる agree that I think myself a very 罰金 fellow," Mr. Ricardo 反対するd.

"I 表明するd myself ill," said Hanaud. "I meant that you think me a very 罰金 fellow."

"I am not always やめる sure about that," Mr. Ricardo answered upon reflection.

"No? There are times when we all 落ちる below our true selves. But you 回復する, my friend, very, very quickly. For a minute there may be a 疑問 and then I do a little thing and at once you say—oh, with such a 救済!—'That Hanaud! What a prodigy!' But, even so"—and he shrugged his shoulders —"how often when I am in a 絡まる a little 事故 始める，決めるs me on the road. The little 事故s—yes—they happen. To know them when you see them, to catch them, to use them—that is half my 商売／仕事. But, of course, you must be always 警報 for them."

It was Hanaud's old doctrine many a time pronounced. Chance was the most willing of goddesses, but the most jealous. She 需要・要求するd a swift mind and a deadly 手渡す. She showed her 直面する for the fraction of a second, just the time to breathe her message, and the clouds の近くにd again. It was your fault if your ears were not quick to catch the words.

"Here's Jeanne Corisot, for instance. You know something about these women, of course, a man of the world like you. A few of them marry, a good many of them put their money away in a 安全な place, but the 残り／休憩（する） when their 青年 is over"—and he made a gesture as though he were dropping a 石／投石する into a pool. "They have no friends to 問い合わせ for them. Some other woman looking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する a cabaret at two o'clock in the morning may say carelessly: 'The little Fifi! I have not seen her for a month. It is curious.' But that will be all. The little Fifi has gone into outer 不明瞭. She is nobody's 商売／仕事. She will die in the gutter, かもしれない is dead already. 認めるd?"

"Yes," the man of the world agreed.

"Very 井戸／弁護士席," Hanaud continued. "Jeanne Corisot was saved from a 類似の oblivion by just one circumstance. Her parents, a couple of old 小作農民s owning a little farm 近づく Fontainebleau, had been living for years upon Jeanne's 現在のs. Each season, you see, there arrived a little more money to buy a little more land and to 在庫／株 it afterwards, and every year there was a 儀式の visit of Jeanne and her lover. They （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する in their car, took their 昼食 in the parlour with the antimacassars, and after the 昼食 sat outside in the porch while one by one the family passed them in a 行列, each one, you understand, receiving a few 肉親，親類d words and more than a few 肉親，親類d bank-公式文書，認めるs. Ah, you must not look shocked, my friend! The family Corisot is not the only one. Take it from me!"

Then a year passed without 現在のs. There was no day of 儀式の visit. びっくり仰天 統治するd in the family Corisot. Was Jeanne turning her 支援する upon her poor relations? No, Jeanne was a good girl. A letter with much 激しい breathing and much 労働 of gnarled fingers was written to her. It returned in 予定 course through the Dead Letter office. Her princeling had sailed 支援する to the East. Jeanne Corisot had disappeared—and with her her money and her jewels.

"Now I come to the one circumstance," Hanaud continued. "Jeanne Corisot had made a will 株ing out her 所有／入手s amongst her family, and that will was 安全な in the walnut bureau in the room of the antimacassars. All that treasure mustn't be and to 妨げる mistakes and trouble, what particular pieces of her jewellery were to go to each member of the family was 始める，決める out in that will very 明確に. Domenique Pouchette gave you an idea of the sort of steps we take, but we never heard a word. If any rogue had got 持つ／拘留する of those jewels, he was lying very 静かに on the 最高の，を越す of them. But after a time we got a line upon Jeanne herself. She had come to Bordeaux in the winter. So far we traced her, and then she disappeared again. I told you yesterday that I was at Bordeaux on やめる other 商売／仕事 than the Ch穰eau Suvlac 事件／事情／状勢. Jeanne Corisot was my 商売／仕事, and the first news I have had of her was given to me tonight by Domenique Pouchette. But I have learnt other things. For instance, three women of the town, as the phrase has it, besides Jeanne Corisot, have disappeared in Bordeaux during the last year."

He lowered his 発言する／表明する as he spoke and leaned 今後 out of the window to make sure that no one could overhear him.

"Three?" Mr. Ricardo exclaimed.

"Yes," Hanaud answered with a nod. "Three of the 肉親，親類d I have 述べるd. Women no one would give a thought to, if they did disappear. And I am wondering whether the 未亡人 Chicholle has come at night to the apartment of Monsieur Pouchette to sell him cheap any of their little trinkets."

Mr. Ricardo leaned 支援する in his 議長，司会を務める, all the exhilaration of his dinner やめる sobered out of him. The 見えなくなる of the three women—the furtive visits paid after dark to a 売買業者 in precious 石／投石するs by a woman with an evil 指名する— the certainty that one, at all events, of Jeanne Corisot's jewels was 申し込む／申し出d by her for sale—these facts gave a very 悪意のある significance to her 所有／入手 of Evelyn Devenish's necklace.

"That necklace was not stolen," said Mr. Ricardo. "For it was bought by Pouchette nine days before Evelyn Devenish's death. She must have 行方不明になるd it, had it been stolen. She parted with it of her own （許可，名誉などを）与える, that afternoon when we met in the 洞穴 of the Mummies. For a price, then—yes, for a price"; and again he saw the 製図／抽選-room of Suvlac and the ゆらめく of 憎悪 in Evelyn Devenish's 注目する，もくろむs as コマドリ Webster leaned over Joyce Whipple's 議長，司会を務める. But then—and he was swept 支援する into the old circle. It was Evelyn Devenish who had paid the price!

Madame Devenish's 注目する，もくろむs could not 隠す her
hate when she saw Joyce talking with Webster.

Mr. Ricardo looked across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する に向かって Hanaud, who was smoking a cigar as 黒人／ボイコット as one of his cigarettes.

"You think Joyce Whipple is in the Ch穰eau Mirandol."

Hanaud would not answer.

"You 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd it yesterday when you were so careful to tell everyone that the neighbourhood was surrounded by police."

Hanaud would not 収容する／認める as much. "I was taking my 警戒s. I had no 権利 then to do more. You will remember that I uttered another 警告."

"Against a second 殺人—yes. But desperate people don't 注意する 警告s."

Hanaud replied with a 審議 which 示唆するd that he was 捜し出すing rather to 納得させる himself than his companion. "Mirandol knows that I 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う his house. I visited him to show him that I did. I spoke of the wheel 示すs in the road to show him that I did. I dropped the mask in the road to show him that I did. And his trembling 手渡すs 定評のある that he knew it. They dare not commit another 罪，犯罪 in that house now. If that young lady is there, they will try to get her away. They will try tonight."

"They will take her to the river," cried Ricardo, and Hanaud 発射 the queerest ちらりと見ること at him, and shivered.

The movement of 恐れる, so 激しい, so utterly strange in just that one man, threw Ricardo into a panic. "We せねばならない go at once," he exclaimed, starting up. "We waste invaluable minutes over the delicacies of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する," and in disgust he 押し進めるd away his empty glass of 罰金 シャンペン酒.

"You are wrong, my friend," said Hanaud 厳粛に. He seemed to cast about for excuses. "It is barely eight o'clock. If we start in your car now, we shall reach the Ch穰eau Mirandol before half-past nine. Too 早期に! The neighbourhood will be awake. We should 簡単に give them 警告 that we are at their heels."

They spoke of "they" and "them," Ricardo not daring to 割り当てる 指名するs, Hanaud, with all the spirit of his profession in his 血, maligning no one of whose 犯罪 he was not sure. Ricardo 認めるd that the true 推論する／理由 for their 延期する had not been given to him, and lit another cigarette. But the dusk was changing 速く into 不明瞭. Beneath the 広大な／多数の／重要な lime trees across the road the chauffeur switched on the lights of the car; and marvelling at his companion's patience, Mr. Ricardo twitched in every 四肢.

Then an 障害 occurred to him which would surely spoil all their 計画（する）s. Yesterday Hanaud had made （疑いを）晴らす to the Vicomte de Mirandol that he 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd that long white house of his. But he had no 権利 to do more. He had 自白するd it.

"You had no 当局 to enter the house yesterday?" he asked.

"非，不，無," replied Hanaud.

"Do you think that de Mirandol, who did not 招待する you into it yesterday, will be more likely to do so tonight?"

"いっそう少なく likely," Hanaud returned.

"Then you have 当局 now?"

"Yes. Even if I had not, I should assume that I had."

"Isn't that a 危険 for you?"

"But it is one that I have made up my mind to take."

"Since when?"

"Since I have learnt why the Vicomte Cassandre de Mirandol was 絵 his gate with his own 手渡すs."

Mr. Ricardo had to be content with an explanation which to him at all events was no explanation at all. Hanaud shut tight like an oyster. Not an answer to any conjecture, not a comment upon any theory. He just sat and smoked and smoked, lighting a fresh cigar from the stump of the old one, placid, unperturbed, a man enjoying the 静かな digestion of an excellent dinner. To all 外見s? No, to almost all. Mr. Ricardo would have been so 拷問d by exasperation that he must have flung reproaches, 祈りs, objurgations and 脅しs in one incoherent 洪水／多発 across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する but for a lesson which he had learned on the day before. For though Hanaud smoked and smoked, and the レコード of red waxed and 病弱なd at the end of his cigar with the regularity of a machine, his 手渡すs trembled from time to time even as de Mirandol's had trembled when he was stooping at his gate.

Suddenly he sprang to his feet, and all his agitation was 明らかにする／漏らすd in that spasmodic movement.

"Here is, I think, someone for me."

A sergent-de-ville was walking at a stiff pace from the direction of the Cours 30th of July. Hanaud leaned out of the window and the sergeant （機の）カム straight to him.

"Monsieur Hanaud?"

"Yes. Give it to me."

The sergeant 手渡すd in the 公式文書，認める through the window. Hanaud tore open the envelope and read, whilst Mr. Ricardo 熟考する／考慮するd the changing 表現s of his 直面する. The 公式文書，認める was 公正に／かなり long though hurriedly written, and the 表現s, beginning with 失望, melted into 退屈, 卒業生（する）d into perplexity and ended in laughter. Mr. Ricardo was never more startled. Hanaud was laughing aloud—he who ten minutes ago had shuddered. He was laughing pleasantly and happily. He was amused and he was glad. The 十分な-throated roll of the laughter struck upon Mr. Ricardo's ears as something やめる unfamiliar and 半端物. And he realized with a shock that for two whole days he had heard no one laugh until this moment.

"You have good news at last," he cried.

Hanaud shrugged his shoulders. "It is not the sort of news you would 令状 to the house."

"What house?" asked Ricardo in perplexity.

"But your house, of course, my friend," Hanaud returned.

Julius Ricardo 反映するd and saw light. "I've got it," he 発表するd resignedly. "It's not news to 令状 home about, you mean."

"Mean?" Hanaud 問い合わせd indignantly. "It was what I said."

"Oh, very 井戸／弁護士席! You said it! Now may I hear it?"

"Certainly! There has arrived yet another 訪問者 from London. He, too, read the evening paper. He crossed by the night boat and caught the Sud 表明する from Paris. The Sud 表明する is late. Very 井戸／弁護士席, he will 令状 to The Times about it. He 運動s from the 駅／配置する to the 県. Where is the Prefect? The newspaper says that Hanaud is on the 事例／患者. Very 井戸／弁護士席, then! Where is Hanaud? Goddam, where is everybody? Oh, I tell you again, he will make money in the City—that young man."

"Bryce Carter," Julius Ricardo exclaimed. "He is here?"

"Yes; the Knight of the 燃やすing Letters. Oho! I have still to blow on my fingers when I think of them—so! He takes 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the 県 of Bordeaux. They dare not tell him that Hanaud is eating his dinner. No, for he break up everything if they do. No! But, Goddam, Moreau is a clever fellow. He tells him Hanaud is disguised. Hush! That helps a bit. Hanaud is wearing a 耐えるd! What a blessing! Hanaud is once more the Cheka King! So Moreau sends him to your 罰金 hotel on the Cours de L!'Intendance and 約束s him a 公式文書，認める from me if only he will not break up the town. Aha, we must 令状 him a little 公式文書，認める. Georges," he called to the proprietor, "some 署名／調印する! What shall I 令状, my friend? A little dose of morphia, eh?" and with that his hilarity 中止するd and he sat gloomily nodding at his companion.

"Not so 平易な to concoct—that little dose of morphia—"

He wrote and tore up the sheet on which he had written. "That 約束s too much." He wrote a second time and tore that sheet up too. "That does not even hint a 約束 of anything at all, and he has come so far." He smiled ruefully and scratched his 長，率いる, and 始める，決める to work again. "So! And I を強調する those words. So! See —I 令状 this:

"Some time before morning I come to you. 一方／合間 it is wise to put on the clean collar and shave.—HANAUD.

"And I を強調する the clean collar and the shave. What do you think?" and he leaned 支援する asking for 賞賛 with every crease of his waistcoat.

"It is not so bad," Ricardo 認可するd indulgently.

"It is very good," said Hanaud with 簡単. He put the letter in the envelope, and fastening it 負かす／撃墜する, 演説（する）／住所d it and 手渡すd it to the sergent-de-ville. "It is a pleasant touch. That young man 急ぐing across England and フラン to いじめ（る） the 県 of Bordeaux. Where is that lazy-bones Hanaud? Why isn't he waiting for me on the steps? Goddam! Yes, it is a pleasant touch, and I tell you"—he lit again the cigar which whilst concocting his little dose of morphia he had 許すd to go out—"I tell you, we shall need all the pleasant little touches we can find when this dark and ugly story comes to be told from its beginning to its end."

He relapsed once more into silence. The river was running grey now. The dusk 深くするd into night. The red and green lights on the 広大な／多数の／重要な 中心存在s of the Place des Quinconces by the quay glowed into significance. Under the limes the lamps of Ricardo's モーター-car shone 有望な. Once or twice Hanaud looked に向かって them. Almost he had made up his mind to wait no longer. But each time he caught himself 支援する. "I must be 権利," he said in a low 発言する／表明する; and now not only his 手渡すs, but his 発言する／表明する shook to keep them company. Ricardo had never seen him torn by so much 疑問 or 急落（する），激減（する）d in a 苦しめる so 深い. A dreadful 責任／義務 重さを計るd upon him and 始める，決める him now to shuffling his feet upon the 床に打ち倒す, now to （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with his 握りこぶし. "I said at the beginning that I shrank from this 事件／事情／状勢," he muttered, and then with an exclamation of 救済 he 押し進めるd 支援する his 議長，司会を務める and ran out on to the pavement. A man was running に向かって him, a short, stocky, 幅の広い man, Moreau.

"At last!" said Mr. Ricardo. He waved his 手渡す to his chauffeur, who climbed 負かす／撃墜する from his seat and opened the door of the リムジン. He took 負かす／撃墜する his hat. "Now we shall go," he said, and he hurried to the car. But he looked 支援する, and to his amazement the two men, the 長，指導者 and his assistant, with their 長，率いるs の近くに together, were slowly pacing the dark avenue. The door of the car was open, the engine running, night had come, the Ch穰eau Mirandol was fifty kilometres away—and there they were palavering. Ricardo could have 叫び声をあげるd with indignation.

"Wonderful!" he cried, 激しく 控訴，上告ing to the world with outspread 武器. "Miraculous! Do they think that I have no 神経s —?"

His invocation was 削減（する） short. Hanaud turned and ran に向かって him, with Moreau at his heels.

"Quick!" he said in a whisper, and there was a thrill of excitement in his 発言する／表明する.

He bundled Ricardo 無作法に into the car, and jumped in after him. Moreau took the seat beside the chauffeur and the car glided out from beneath the trees. At the 最高の，を越す of the square it turned to the left. At once Mr. Ricardo was in a 明言する／公表する of extreme agitation.

"He is wrong. He should turn to the 権利 for the Rue de M馘oc," and he leaned across Hanaud to 掴む the speaking-tube. But Hanaud already held it.

"He is 権利. He should turn to the left for the Rue Gr馮oire," said Hanaud.

The car glided without noise or 成果／努力 負かす／撃墜する the long, straight street, left the 広大な／多数の／重要な clustered lights behind it, and （機の）カム into a 冷静な／正味の gloom of narrower ways and shuttered houses. It turned to the 権利 and again to the left. A wide space opened out. On one 味方する of it the 集まり of a 広大な／多数の／重要な church ぼんやり現れるd 巨大な and 黒人／ボイコット. In the middle a 広大な／多数の／重要な tower 発射 上向きs like a 巨大（な）'s spear, and the 最高の，を越す of it was lost in 不明瞭. By the 味方する of that tower the car stopped.

"The tower of St. Michel," Mr. Ricardo whispered.

"Quick!" said Hanaud. "We have not a moment to lose."

At the very 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where Ricardo had stood when he had hesitated at the 入り口 to the 洞穴 of the Mummies, ages and ages ago, it seemed, this party of 追跡 descended.

"Keep の近くに to me," Hanaud breathed, "and not a word."

He crossed the square to the mouth of a little street. A gendarme stood 近づく a lamp, the light 向こうずねing upon his accoutrements. He did not 転換 from his position. Hanaud and his company were （海，煙などが）飲み込むd in the street. It was short and straight. At the far end the lights of the quay were 明白な. But here the houses, squalid and forbidding and 黒人／ボイコット, rose to so high a level that they seemed to be walking in a cavern. Suddenly two men seemed to spring from the 石／投石するs of a 塀で囲む and の近くにd in behind them.

"Not a sound," whispered Hanaud.

Half-way 負かす／撃墜する the street two other men 現れるd from the archway of a 広大な／多数の／重要な porte-coch鑽e. "It is here," said one of them.

"The door," whispered Hanaud. For the 広大な／多数の／重要な 二塁打 doors were の近くにd.

"We opened it when we saw the lights of your car," said the man, and at his touch the door swung open. One by one they slipped in, and behind them the door was gently の近くにd again and gently locked. They stood in a 丸天井 of 不明瞭. Once in the days of the greatness of Bordeaux, when a king held his 法廷，裁判所 there and Monsieur de Tourny was 召喚するing the 広大な／多数の／重要な artists of Europe to 再構築する it in beauty, this house in the Rue Gr馮oire 避難所d some 豊富な merchant. Now fallen upon an evil day, the far end of its archway built up with bricks, in a street grown 悪名高い, it stood noisome and decrepit, its grimy 塀で囲むs running with moisture.

Mr. Ricardo stood in the blackness of the 炭坑，オーケストラ席, his heart 大打撃を与えるing within his breast. He had clamoured for thrills and excitements; he was shaking with them like a leaf. He heard the tiniest clink as though one 重要な touched another, and a whispered "Hush!" from Hanaud. For the fraction of a second, the pencil-light of an electric たいまつ showed him the keyhole of a house door and one of the men bending 負かす／撃墜する in 前線 of it, and then the door 開始.

"There is one step," said Hanaud, but in a breath so low that Ricardo's 隣人 could not have heard it. Ricardo felt his arm しっかり掴むd 堅固に and 解除するd when he reached the step. The 空気／公表する, hot and の近くに and stifling, 警告するd him he was within the vestibule. Once more Hanaud's 発言する／表明する breathed in his ear; "The house of the 未亡人 Chicholle!"

CHAPTER 19. — HOME TRUTH FOR WIDOW CHICHOLLE

FOR a few moments they stood in silence, their ears 警報, 持つ／拘留するing their breath. But no 発言する／表明する was 解除するd anywhere, no foot knocked upon a 床に打ち倒す. Not even a board creaked or a door 動揺させるd in that old house. They might have been standing together in a catacomb a hundred feet beneath the earth. Then the pencil of golden light clove the 不明瞭 again, flickered over mildewed 塀で囲む and discoloured 天井, and shone 刻々と upon a distant door. Hanaud moved 今後 into the light and noiselessly opened that door インチ by インチ. He let it swing wider and went in. The others followed—Mr. Ricardo with a delicious thrill of 恐れる running up and 負かす／撃墜する his spine. At that moment he would not have 交流d his position for any other in the world. For he was dramatizing himself with a 集中 so 激しい that but for some 逮捕 of Hanaud, he would have （人命などを）奪う，主張するd the lead and 問題／発行するd orders aloud. He was his own 観客 too. He sat in the 立ち往生させるs and whole-heartedly admired his 業績／成果. "The 広大な／多数の／重要な ones of the earth!" he 反映するd. "Pooh to them all!" He had seen them or met them—more often seen them than met them, to be sure—and thought nothing of them at all. Which of them had crept at night with plain-着せる／賦与するs men into a house of infamy, searching for a —井戸／弁護士席, what? He stood 在庫／株-still and asked himself that question. The 未亡人 Chicholle? Yes, no 疑問, since there was so の近くに a 非常線，警戒線 一連の会議、交渉／完成する Suvlac that no one could get through. But after all—the 未亡人 Chicholle? Were all these 警戒s necessary?

Hanaud had taken the electric たいまつ into his own 手渡す, and was 調査するing with its beam this inner hall. But it was rather a 回廊（地帯） than a hall, with a window at the end, a couple of doors upon the left, a 幅の広い staircase on the 権利, and の近くに to the foot of the staircase another door of tattered green baize. But no sound 侵入するd from behind any of the three doors, nor did any light gleam beneath them. Hanaud opened the two doors upon the left to make sure. The rooms 直面するd the Rue Gr馮oire, but they were both shuttered and empty. One of them was furnished cheaply as a sitting-room; the other was 単に a place of cupboards and 明らかにする boards. Thereafter he stood for a while looking up the staircase and listening, it seemed, with every 神経 of his 団体／死体. But the upper storeys were as silent as this hall in which they stood. The stillness of death lay brooding throughout the house.

The door of green baize led to the offices and the kitchen, and here at all events they （機の）カム upon 調印するs of life, for a clock ticked upon the 塀で囲む and the grate showed the dull red of an 満了する／死ぬing 解雇する／砲火／射撃.

"There will be good cellars to this old house," said Hanaud, and though he spoke in a low and 静かな 発言する／表明する, to Ricardo's 緊張するd fancies it seemed loud enough to wake the town.

He （機の）カム at the end of a passage to a 狭くする flight of 石／投石する steps which 負傷させる downwards into 不明瞭. He bent his 長，率いる, then turned it and shook it at his companions. By the light of the たいまつ he carried his 直面する showed white and 猛烈に afraid; and the 恐れる leaped from his 直面する to the 直面するs of all about him. For a moment they were numbed by the 冷気／寒がらせる of an 巨大な 失敗.

"But it must be!" Hanaud whispered. "It must be!"

No one 否定するd him, but no one agreed. They even の近くにd together a little as men will in the presence of some dreadful 大災害. That tiny movement drove the 狼狽 from Hanaud's 直面する. He threw 支援する his 長，率いる with 反抗.

"My God, but it has got to be!" he said stubbornly.

With three swift flashes of his 手渡す he bade two of his men and Ricardo to stay where they were and the 残り／休憩（する） to follow him. Himself he moved downwards, but he was still within their 見解（をとる） when from beneath their very feet, so の近くに at 手渡す it seemed, a piercing 叫び声をあげる 粉々にするd the silence.

Mr. Ricardo was startled out of his wits. Panic 掴むd him by the heart. He reeled 支援する against the 塀で囲む, gasping for breath. But he was astounded as much as startled. For his 注目する，もくろむs were upon Hanaud's 直面する, and he saw 救済 and 勝利 transfigure it. It took Mr. Ricardo a few seconds to reconcile that look with a 叫び声をあげる of such terror as he had never thought human 存在 could utter and go on living. Then he understood. Hanaud was in time; Hanaud was 権利.

He heard a 激しい door 激突する and felt it shake the house. He saw Hanaud leap. Behind Hanaud the whole party clattered and trembled, Ricardo and the two men bidden to wait, with the 残り／休憩（する） of them.

"This is the moment to disobey orders," cried Mr. Ricardo, with a vague recollection of other 国家の heroes; and, "Attention!" cried Hanaud in a （犯罪の）一味ing 発言する／表明する.

The 警告 reached him just in time. For he tottered on the 辛勝する／優位 of a gaping 穴を開ける in the 床に打ち倒す of the cellar, and with a gasp 回復するd his balance. He 回復するd it to see a line of light beneath a door across the cellar suddenly 消える and to hear a 激しい lantern 衝突，墜落 upon a 床に打ち倒す. Before the sound 中止するd to echo Hanaud was at the door. It was of 厚い, solid 支持を得ようと努めるd. Hanaud shook it; it was bolted. But there was a Judas at the level of the 注目する，もくろむs to ventilate the cellar within. Hanaud tore it open. For a second his たいまつ, held in his left 手渡す, played upon 塀で囲む and 天井 and 床に打ち倒す. Then his 権利 手渡す flashed to his pocket, something gleamed in it—a ピストル バーレル／樽—and that 手渡す too slipped within the Judas.

"Up with the 手渡すs—all three of you," he cried. "So!" Then he spoke to the men behind him. "A lantern! Quick!" A match was struck, a lantern lit. "Now you, the 未亡人 Chicholle, open this door!"

There was a pause and then the shuffling of feet dragging in carpet slippers across the 旗s. "The paws up, mother, till you reach the door!" he 命令（する）d. "That's better!"

He withdrew the ピストル as the woman approached, so that it could not be snatched from his 手渡す; and then the bolt grated rustily out of its socket and the door swung open. Hanaud passed through the doorway and hung the lantern upon a nail. He stood in a small square cellar lined with plaster which was flaking off from the brick 塀で囲むs, and no 空気／公表する entered it but through the Judas and beneath the door. It was at once stiflingly の近くに, clammily damp. Shut that 激しい door and の近くに the Judas 急速な／放蕩な, and it was a dungeon as 黒人／ボイコット as night itself. The woman who had unbarred the door had 退却／保養地d to the corner at the 権利 of the door, and crouched 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd with her companions. There were three of them, all women—a young girl with a sullen 直面する and jet-黒人／ボイコット hair who crouched on the ground, a woman of middle age, 幅の広い and big and strong as a man, with 手渡すs covered with clay, and the 未亡人 Chicholle herself, a ghoul of a woman with 注目する，もくろむs sunk 深い in a 直面する which was splashed with 黒人／ボイコット as though even before her death her 団体／死体 had begun to corrupt. Though she shuffled in carpet slippers, she wore an old dress of 黒人／ボイコット silk, as the "patronne" of such a house should, and in spite of its shabbiness, with its trimmings and bugles of a past day, it 追加するd a nightmare touch of incongruity to the scene.

"I have done her no 害（を与える）, m'sieu," she whined, and, "You can see."

"No, indeed! You have given her a 罰金 boudoir to 残り／休憩（する） in whilst her bedroom was 存在 用意が出来ている next door, eh, 未亡人?" Hanaud cried with a savage irony, and the old woman shrank from him whimpering excuses and 約束s.

"Ah, there are others high up in the world more to 非難する than me! Come now! I am a poor woman, and ignorant too—What should I do when those 広大な／多数の／重要な ones order me—terrify me —? Oh, I shall tell you about them—very sure, I shall tell you—They are wicked ones, 信用 me—" And with a snarl Hanaud 削減（する） her short.

"And that?" he cried, thrusting out his arm. Over his shoulder Mr. Ricardo saw a noose and a foot or so of rope dangling from a hook driven into the low 天井 to 持つ／拘留する a lamp. "That pretty necklace goes very 井戸／弁護士席 with the boudoir! A 現在の for a good girl, eh, 未亡人? Monsieur!" and he turned to a man in the doorway who waited with an 空気／公表する of 当局. "Those animals are for you."

As this man and two of his assistants とじ込み／提出するd into the cellar and surrounded the three women, the corner opposite to the door became 明白な to Mr. Ricardo; and in that corner, as far as possible from the 未亡人 Chicholle and her confederates, 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd against the 塀で囲む, stood Joyce Whipple.

And in such strange guise that Mr. Ricardo was 倒れるd from amazement to amazement. Was he standing on his 長，率いる or on his heels? Verily, the whole world was upside 負かす／撃墜する. The 半端物 fact, to be sure, that Joyce Whipple had left her glittering frock behind on the night when she had disappeared was now accounted for. But it was only accounted for by a circumstance still more unaccountable. Joyce was dressed now in what seemed to Mr. Ricardo a boy's Sunday 控訴 of 黒人／ボイコット velvet, 膝 breeches, 黒人／ボイコット silk stockings and all. Certainly the 黒人／ボイコット satin shoes she was wearing were her own—the imprints in the garden of Suvlac had 論証するd that. But the meaning of her masquerade was やめる unintelligible to Mr. Ricardo. To make her attire still more remarkable she wore over the velvet 控訴 a sort of short surcoat of a scarlet hue. It had no sleeves and was 削減（する） low at the shoulders, to slip over the 長，率いる like a jumper, and it reached just to her hips. A surcoat, such as pages wore in mediaeval days—yes, that was it—or a short cassock in scarlet.

"It is all very peculiar," Mr. Ricardo began to say to himself, but he looked at Joyce Whipple's 直面する, and a wave of pity and horror swept over him which made him forget everything but the extremity of her 苦しめる. Her 注目する，もくろむs, wild with terror, 炎d out of a white and twitching 直面する. She trembled so that it was a 奇蹟 that she could stand, and with her hair and her dress dishevelled and 国／地域d with plaster and dust she gazed from 直面する to 直面する やめる distraught. But her 注目する，もくろむs lighted upon Ricardo. He was the only one in all that company whom she had ever seen before; and her 注目する，もくろむs stayed upon him and 承認 struggled with 疑問 and 徐々に mastered it.

"It is you! You!" she said from a throat 乾燥した，日照りの and hoarse with かわき, so that though she cried aloud a murmur would have 溺死するd her cry. Suddenly she stretched out her 手渡すs to him, and he saw that they were 手錠d together at the wrists.

"Take them off my 手渡すs," she implored, and she shook her 武器 so that the links of the chain 動揺させるd. "Oh, please! Quick! Oh, I shall die of 恐れる."

"You! You!" she gasped, take them off my
手渡すs quickly, Monsieur. Oh! I shall die of 恐れる.

But Hanaud was already at her 味方する. "Courage, mademoiselle! See, it is done! You are 解放する／自由な!"

"Yes," she whispered, separating her 武器 and joining them and separating them again, incredulous of her 解放（する）. "Yes, I am 解放する／自由な."

Hanaud 除去するd his 注目する，もくろむs from her to the 手錠s in his 手渡すs. He turned them over and bent his 長，率いる 負かす／撃墜する to them and nodded to himself.

"Moreau! Look here! And here!" He pointed to some 示すs upon the steel, and an exclamation broke from Moreau.

"They are the 所有物／資産／財産 of the 明言する／公表する," he cried. "Ah! Ah! They are of an insolence, those 罰金 fellows!"

"But it was to be 推定する／予想するd, Moreau," said Hanaud very softly. "Let us not lose our 長，率いるs! 手錠s, after all, don't grow upon the bushes. No, when we want them to keep inquisitive young ladies in order, we must get them the best way we can. It was certainly to be 推定する／予想するd, Moreau," and as he 手渡すd them over to his assistant, Joyce Whipple with a sigh slid 負かす／撃墜する in a heap at his 味方する. He stooped over her. "Courage, mademoiselle!" he said chidingly; and Joyce Whipple from the 床に打ち倒す laughed weakly and said:

"It is all very 井戸／弁護士席 to say 'Courage, mademoiselle.' But what is mademoiselle to do, monsieur, my friend, if mademoiselle's 脚s give way under her? She can only sit on the 床に打ち倒す, poor girl, and tell sad stories of the death of kings," and her 発言する／表明する 追跡するd away into silence and her shoulders 屈服するd as she crouched upon the 床に打ち倒す. She covered her 直面する suddenly with her 手渡すs, and in a moment she was shaking from 長，率いる to foot with 広大な／多数の／重要な sobs like a child, and the 涙／ほころびs were running out between her fingers.

Hanaud had been left 完全に at a loss by Joyce Whipple's words, but her 苦しめる he did understand. He called for water in a peremptory 発言する／表明する, and when the glass was brought he knelt 負かす／撃墜する by her 味方する and put his 広大な／多数の／重要な arm about her shoulders, raised her 長，率いる and held the glass to her lips.

"Oh!" she sighed as she drank, and 恐れるing that he was for 手渡すing 支援する the glass before she had finished, she caught his wrist and held it 急速な／放蕩な with both her 手渡すs.

"More?" he asked when she had finished. "Oh, ever so much more," she cried in a stronger 発言する／表明する, and now she laughed without hysteria and Hanaud laughed in sympathy. Moreau was 持つ／拘留するing a jug of water in his 手渡すs, and he filled the glass again. Hanaud stood up in 前線 of her as she drank it, and with a movement of his 手渡す 命令（する）d the 除去 of the 囚人s. They were hustled out whilst she was drinking, but not so quickly but that she uttered a cry and, rising up on her 膝s, 圧力（をかける）d herself against the 塀で囲む.

"You are 安全な, mademoiselle," said Hanaud, but she didn't hear. Her 注目する，もくろむs were 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on the door through which the women had been taken and the dark cellar beyond. She knelt straight up, bruising her shoulder against the 塀で囲む by the 暴力／激しさ of her 圧力. She shivered. She was once more upon the 辛勝する／優位 of panic.

"No, no, mademoiselle," said Hanaud. It was an order that he gave her. "There is nothing to 恐れる. It must not be!" And to Moreau he 追加するd: "See that they lock those women up in one of the rooms until we go, and send someone into the square to fetch Mr. Ricardo's car." He turned again to Joyce Whipple. "I tell you what we shall do. We shall take you in Mr. Ricardo's 罰金 car to Mr. Ricardo's 罰金 hotel, where a friend is waiting for you—"

"A friend?" Joyce asked with a frown of perplexity; then with a cry of alarm: "Not from—"

"No, no, no, not from the Ch穰eau Suvlac at all. Will you please to listen to me?" Hanaud interrupted with an accent of the 最大の testiness. "I 配置する／処分する／したい気持ちにさせる of you tonight. I am your goat."

"Your nanny, he means, Joyce," Mr. Ricardo explained, and they all fell to laughing foolishly and yet wisely. Joyce Whipple from an instinct that she must grapple herself 急速な／放蕩な to the light and trifling things if she were ever to 修理 the 傷つける and horror of this day; Hanaud because laughter would be the saving of her if it was kept on this 味方する of hysteria. He was not very sure indeed of the occasion for laughter. Nothing that he had said could have 刺激するd it. At an appropriate moment he had used an admirable idiom—that was all. But he was very content to laugh, with an ear 警報 to catch the first waverings of hysteria; and he kept the 幅の広い 防御壁／支持者 of his shoulders solidly between the girl upon the 床に打ち倒す in the tattered masquerade and the horrid apparatus of her death. The noose with its short foot of rope 約束ing slow 拷問 and dreadful disfigurement dangled from the hook. But they laughed beneath it so that the 塀で囲むs of that 深い-sunk, 悪意のある 議会 rang with a joyous sound which they could hardly have heard before. To Mr. Ricardo it seemed that their laughter was laying the ghosts of many 罪，犯罪s and exorcizing the cellar of its horrors.

"Come," said Hanaud to the girl. "I carry you since the 脚s won't walk."

He 解除するd her up on her feet and thence into his 武器 with no more 成果／努力 than if she had been in very truth a baby. There were only the three of them now in the cellar. "You will take the lantern, yes?—and you will leave this cellar just as it is for Monsieur Le Commissaire, and you will light me very carefully so that I do not bump this young lady's 長，率いる too often against the 塀で囲む."

Mr. Ricardo went 今後 with the lamp into the outer cellar. He saw 明確に now the 穴を開ける on the 辛勝する／優位 of which he had tottered. Some boards had been 除去するd, a shallow ざん壕 had been dug in the clay—a 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な. And the thought that if Hanaud had 産する／生じるd to his 控訴，上告s in the restaurant of the "Golden Pheasant"; or if he had 産する／生じるd to his own 疑問s; or if Moreau had been late in coming to 召喚する them; or if that shrill cry of death by terror had not risen up from beneath their feet, the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な would already 持つ／拘留する its occupant, 始める，決める his heart 沈むing in his breast and filled him with an unforgettable 狼狽. He would himself have had his 株 in that 罪，犯罪. 悔恨 would have stalked him for the 残り／休憩（する） of his days, and his soul went out in 感謝 に向かって his friend. Even now, he noticed with a smile, Hanaud so held Joyce Whipple in his 武器 that her 支援する was に向かって that open ざん壕. She never saw it as she passed. The big porte-coch鑽e was now wide open; there were gendarmes in uniform now at the door and in the street; the car, with its lights 燃やすing, stood beneath the archway. Hanaud carried Joyce Whipple out to it and 始める，決める her feet upon the footboard and helped her in. He beckoned to one of the men in the vestibule to 開始する beside the chauffeur.

"So!" he said as he の近くにd the door. "We keep you one moment. You are no longer afraid?"

"No," she answered, smiling at him from the window and 製図／抽選 in a long breath. "But—"

"Yes? Do not hesitate, mademoiselle. Our little world is yours to 命令（する） tonight."

"Very 井戸／弁護士席, then! I ask something. I would like to breathe the fresh 空気／公表する, to feel it on my 直面する, my neck. In a word, will you please have the car opened?"

Slowly there 夜明けd upon Hanaud's 直面する a look of real delight. "Mademoiselle, the car does not open. It is my friend Ricardo's car, and it does not open. No. I tell you. Only the better class of cars are made to open. Tomorrow I take you in my Ford and it will all be different."

He turned 支援する に向かって the vestibule with an impish grin at Mr. Ricardo. But he atoned for the grin the next moment.

"I have a little 発言／述べる to make to the 未亡人 Chicholle. You shall hear. It will be 利益／興味ing to see how she takes it."

Hanaud was spacing out his words, savouring them with a grim smile which only once or twice Mr. Ricardo had seen upon his 直面する. In a fanciful flight, he had called it the クーデター de grace. He hurried 支援する on Hanaud's heels. Hanaud would want him at his 味方する if only to show him how wonderfully 井戸／弁護士席 he 発射. Already orders were 存在 given, and a 重要な grated in a lock. A gendarme threw open the door of the sitting-room.

"Here, you! The 未亡人 Chicholle. Out with you here!" and the old woman with her white hair and the 黒人／ボイコット hollows in her 直面する （機の）カム out into the light and blinked.

"You 手配中の，お尋ね者 me, monsieur? Yes? I am at your service. You will remember that no 害（を与える） was done. A little 恐れる—yes! That was all that we ーするつもりであるd. Yes! No 疑問 it was not 権利 and we must 苦しむ a little—yes."

"I 招待する you to be silent," Hanaud 削減（する） in—oh, very softly. "Your excuses—you shall make them to the 大統領 of Assize—and no 疑問 he will listen. For me, I have a little 警告 to give you—just for what it is 価値（がある）. You have visited no 疑問 upon some Sunday or other that very beautiful ornament of this town—the 洞穴 of the Mummies."

"Yes, m'sieu. I have been there," said the 未亡人 Chicholle, with her 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd in a desperate 苦悩 upon Hanaud's 直面する.

"Good! I have in the course of my 研究s in Bordeaux today come upon a startling fact which cannot but 利益／興味 you. This house is, Chicholle"—and his 発言する／表明する rang out a trifle louder, a trifle いっそう少なく soft—"this house is built upon that 古代の 共同墓地 from which the mummies were 除去するd."

The 未亡人 Chicholle blinked at him, 捜し出すing for the meaning of his words. He did not keep her in suspense.

"Is she there?" he cried aloud, pointing downwards to the 床に打ち倒す. "Is she there—Jeanne Corisot? And the others who have 消えるd from the earth? Tomorrow we shall see." And as he turned and strode に向かって the door the 未亡人 Chicholle screeched and dropped like a 石／投石する.

CHAPTER 20. — THE FACE AT THE WINDOW

AT the door of the hotel in the Cours de L'Intendance, Hanaud jumped out.

"Wait!" he said to Joyce Whipple. "I borrow a cloak"; and in a minute he was 支援する again. Joyce wrapped it about her and was led up to Ricardo's sitting-room. Hanaud had entered the hotel with her and Ricardo had 上がるd the stairs with them, and yet he had conjured into his 手渡すs by some 魔法, on the way, a plate of 薄焼きパン／素焼陶器s.

"Now, mademoiselle, you will sit here," he ordered, arranging a 議長，司会を務める for her at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and setting 負かす／撃墜する the 薄焼きパン／素焼陶器s in 前線 of her, "and you will eat perhaps a couple of 薄焼きパン／素焼陶器s, whilst I make the 手はず／準備."

He 素早い行動d out of the room, and was 支援する again as 速く as if his energy had 絶滅するd time. Joyce Whipple was still at her second 薄焼きパン／素焼陶器, and Hanaud calmly 解除するd the plate from before her.

"That will do," he said.

"No!" cried Joyce, and she clung with both 手渡すs to the plate. "I am hungry."

"It certainly is not much of a dinner," Mr. Ricardo 観察するd reproachfully.

"It is not a dinner at all," said Hanaud. "But it will spoil a dinner. Will you let the plate go, if you please, mademoiselle?"

But Joyce Whipple shook her 長，率いる with 決意 and clung still more to her plate. She looked so like a mutinous little boy that Hanaud began to laugh; but still with one 広大な／多数の／重要な 手渡す he drew the plate of 薄焼きパン／素焼陶器s away, and still with both her small ones she clutched it 支援する again.

"I am 餓死するing," she said with a whimper in her 発言する／表明する, and the 涙／ほころびs in her 注目する，もくろむs.

"I know, my little friend," he replied gently. "I know that very 井戸／弁護士席," and his 解放する／自由な arm went 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her shoulders. "Now you shall listen to me and say how wise I am. Look! I engage a room for you—so, No.18—here is the ticket—a room with a bath—ah, ha, you do not know, you are the chimney-sweep's boy. Also I order a dinner for you with a little 瓶／封じ込める of シャンペン酒, for all of which Mr. Ricardo shall 支払う／賃金. And I borrow a nightdress from the manageress. The pyjamas of burnt orange—no! She lost them on the Lido. So you 会合，会う your friend for a minute—here. Then you get all white again in your bath. Then you lose yourself in the manageress's nightgown and get into bed. Then your dinner is brought to you, and perhaps whilst you eat it you talk to your friend. Then you go to sleep —oh, やめる 解放する／自由な from any 恐れる, because I put a gendarme at your door. There is no need, you understand, for any gendarme. I only 地位，任命する him there because I am very 肉親，親類d and very efficient. If you wake up in the night and suddenly imagine you are in a いっそう少なく pleasant place, you have only to cry out, 'Are you there, Alphonse?' and he will answer, 'Yes, mademoiselle, 武装した to the teeth,' and if you say instead, 'Are you there, Hyacinthe?' he will answer just the same."

So Hanaud 動揺させるd on, 努力する／競うing to bring 支援する some laughter to that 病弱な 直面する; and suddenly she did laugh and laid a small 手渡す upon his big paw.

"Very 井戸／弁護士席," she said, and she got up unsteadily on to her feet. "But you talk of a friend and again of a friend. Except you two I have no friends in Bordeaux."

"We shall see."

Hanaud went to the door and opened it and beckoned, and Bryce Carter entered the room. At the sight of him Joyce uttered a cry of astonishment.

"You?" She plumped 負かす／撃墜する in her 議長，司会を務める again and 星／主役にするd at him. "But when did you come?"

"This evening," said Bryce Carter. "There was a word about you last night in a London paper."

"And you left at once?"

"Of course. I （機の）カム at once."

"Oh!" Joyce ran a grimy finger backwards and 今後s along the tablecloth and her lips twitched and melted into a slow smile.

"That was terribly nice of you," she said. Hanaud ちらりと見ることd at Mr. Ricardo and threw up his 手渡すs in despair. There was no need for him to blow upon his fingers now. He of the 燃やすing letters —there he stood as unmoved as a 中心存在 in a 砂漠, with his "Of course," and his "I （機の）カム at once," like a doctor. And there she sat looking at her little dirty finger and 説 politely, "How terribly nice of you!" What a people— Goddam!

"井戸／弁護士席, we go, Mr. Ricardo and I," he said, making his 告示 as 劇の as possible. But it fell just as flat as his introduction of Bryce Carter. Neither of the young people asked whither he and Ricardo were going, or took the most (n)艦隊／(a)素早いing 利益／興味 in their movements. Bryce Carter 星／主役にするd at Joyce; Joyce 星／主役にするd at the tablecloth. Hanaud tried again. He smiled confidently at Ricardo as one who knew an infallible 魔法 to attract a girl's attention.

"We go to bring 支援する your 着せる／賦与するs to you, mademoiselle," he said.

Certainly the 発言／述べる had an 影響, but not the 影響 which he 推定する／予想するd. He を待つd enthusiasm, and a show of 感謝. All that happened was that Joyce raised her 注目する，もくろむs shyly to Bryce Carter's 直面する and said with a little 泡 of laughter: "He says that I look like a chimney-sweep's boy."

Bryce Carter looked at as much as he could see of her very 本気で. Then he replied:

"I have never seen a chimney-sweep's boy, but I should think that he's 権利."

Hanaud was 敗北・負かすd. He 急ぐd from the room, and Mr. Ricardo 設立する him leaning against the 塀で囲む of the passage, incredulity upon his 直面する, his 武器 helplessly gesticulating.

"What a people!" he exclaimed.

Mr. Ricardo on the other 手渡す had a different 見解（をとる）. Discretion and self-支配（する）／統制する never failed to touch a responsive chord in his heart.

"It is not our habit to make a public 展示 of our emotions even under the most seductive circumstances," he said primly.

"I was wrong about that young man," Hanaud 宣言するd gloomily. "He has not the temperament. He will not make money in the City."

But a little cry rang out behind the の近くにd door. Bryce Carter's 発言する／表明する, 熱烈な and low, followed swift upon it. "Joyce! Joyce!"

Hanaud turned in a flash and opened the door. For the fraction of a second he stood, he in his turn like a 中心存在 of 石／投石する. He saw Bryce Carter standing by the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and in his clasp the chimney-sweep's boy, her 武器 tightly locked about his neck, her 直面する buried in his coat. Hanaud softly の近くにd the door.

"He has. He will," he said, sublimely admitting an error of judgment. "Let us go!"

This time the car slipped along the Rue Fondaud鑒e and out by the 大勝する du M馘oc. The clocks of the town were striking ten whilst it still ran between the houses. すぐに afterwards the interminable street fell away behind with an abruptness which was startling, and the car 発射 into the 不明瞭 of the open country. But in 前線 of the strong headlights the road lay brilliant as a riband of snow, and the trees which 国境d it continually met to make an impenetrable forest and continually opened to let the travellers through. Every now and then they 揺さぶるd over cobbles between ghostly white houses, and left another village behind them; every now and then, too, the lighted windows of a 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 fought with their lights for the 照明 of the road, and 消えるd behind them. Hanaud sat very silent in the 不明瞭 of the リムジン, and Mr. Ricardo was at 苦痛s not to interrupt his reflections. No 疑問 the 広大な／多数の／重要な man was planning and planning and planning. Already a rare light or two showed that they were approaching Pauillac. The adventures of the night were 近づくing their 最高潮. Suddenly Hanaud spoke. "I have been thinking, my friend."

"I was careful not to break in upon your thoughts."

"I have been looking 支援する upon all that was said and done this evening."

"It is very natural that you should."

"And one thing puzzles me."

"Only one thing?" Mr. Ricardo asked enviously.

"Only one thing, my friend," Hanaud returned. "But it is one which you shall explain to me."

A 一連の little movements in the other corner of the carriage 示唆するd that Mr. Ricardo was settling his collar, squaring his shoulders, pulling 負かす／撃墜する his cuffs and 一般に trimming himself up to fit the occasion.

"I shall do my best. Speak, Hanaud!"

Hanaud accordingly 配達するd himself of his perplexity.

"To sit on the 床に打ち倒す and tell sad stories of dead kings —that is an English custom, eh?"

"No, my friend, but it is an English quotation, when it is 権利."

Hanaud turned in the 不明瞭 熱望して. "Aha! The charming 行方不明になる Whipple—she makes a phrase in the cellar, eh? She use an idiom?"

"You may call it so."

"Good," said Hanaud with contentment. "I too use him."

Mr. Ricardo was never able やめる to comprehend the professional mind which having made its careful 計画（する） and 始める，決める it irrevocably in 動議 can turn to trifles whilst を待つing the result.

"Do you mean to say," he cried, "that all this while in the corner of my car you have been considering the preposterous question whether or no you will いつか be able to drag into your conversation an unusual phrase which you have just heard for the first time? You are approaching Mirandol. Dreadful 義務s 嘘（をつく） before you—and you are trifling with an idiom. I don't wish to be censorious, but levity is levity."

Hanaud was altogether unmoved by this rebuke.

"A field-保安官, my friend," he replied, "once he has 用意が出来ている his 戦う／戦い, and given the order to begin, may go and fish with his little 棒 for a trout. He can do no more. He cannot alter his 戦略 that day. So with Hanaud. His 計画／陰謀 is 完全にする. His subordinates are carrying it out. Himself he learns an idiom."

He had hardly 配達するd himself of this immodest comparison when a lantern swung to and fro ahead of them, and with all its ブレーキs clamped 急速な／放蕩な the car （機の）カム to a stop. The headlights showed a stout wire rope 直す／買収する，八百長をするd across the road at the level of the bonnet, and three gendarmes in uniform with a 地元の 視察官 of police dressed in plain 着せる／賦与するs. The 視察官 opened the door of the car and, seeing now who was within it, saluted.

"The Ch穰eau Mirandol is surrounded. You will only have to blow your whistle and there will be 援助 at once," he said.

"The Vicomte is alone?" asked Hanaud.

"No, the Juge d'指示／教授／教育 has returned to him. Oh— Monsieur Tidon—he is ambitious. It is known that he aspires to Paris and here is the 事例／患者 to 解除する him up the ladder. He has not let the Vicomte de Mirandol for long out of his sight today, I can tell you," the 視察官 観察するd with a 静かな laugh.

"And what of Suvlac?"

"No one has moved beyond the grounds all day."

"Good!" Hanaud leaned out of the window and spoke in a whisper. Ricardo heard the 視察官 answer "Yes," and again "Yes," and then Hanaud turned his 長，率いる に向かって Moreau on the seat beside the driver. "We will go in by the gate that was painted"; and as the gendarmes 除去するd the 障壁 from across the road, he turned again to the 視察官.

"There is no need for that wire rope any longer. Anyone from the Ch穰eau Suvlac or Mirandol—yes, you shall stop him. But the travellers—now they can pass without inconvenience."

The car, purring like a 広大な／多数の／重要な cat, slid along past the high アイロンをかける gates of Mirandol on the left 手渡す, and the 農園s of Suvlac upon the 権利. It reached the arch and the house of Suvlac, the pink 塀で囲むs 微光ing under the 星／主役にするs and not a light in any window. It turned 負かす／撃墜する the slope by the farm buildings and the garage, crossed the pasture-land and 上がるd the hill. Fifty yards from the gate, Hanaud tapped upon the 前線 glass and the car stopped. From that point the three men proceeded 静かに on foot. The hill-味方する fell away upon their 権利, the hedge of the Mirandol 所有物／資産／財産 rose high upon their left, and they walked by the faint gleam of the white road. At a corner they （機の）カム to a gap in the hedge. Mr. Ricardo stepped 今後 busily and reached out a 手渡す to the gate. But Hanaud snatched him 支援する violently.

"Don't touch it!" he whispered.

"A little wet paint—what does that 事柄?" Mr. Ricardo returned in the same トン.

"There may be more than a little wet paint. Let us take care!"

He drew a glove over his 権利 手渡す. But noiselessly though the party had moved, he had not touched the latch before a thread of light 発射 out, nickered over their 直面するs and was gone. A man moved 今後 from the shrubs within the garden and opened the gate for them.

"That is very good watching," Hanaud murmured. "I thank you."

They slid between the high bushes to the lawn in 前線 of the low house. At the 辛勝する／優位s of the 厚い dark curtains which were drawn across the library window there was a trickle of light. But nowhere else. In that room there, thought Ricardo, sat the ambitious Juge d'指示／教授／教育 keeping watch over the rogue whose 有罪の判決 was to waft him away to Paris. He crept 今後 across the 運動 in the hope that at one of those 辛勝する／優位s where the light shone he might catch a glimpse of the 内部の of the room. What were those two doing? Chatting over a 瓶／封じ込める of ワイン like two good friends? Not a 調印する that on one 味方する of the hearth sat a 犯罪の and on the other a 裁判官 with a knowledge of the 罪，犯罪? Or did they sit in a dreadful silence, one with 注目する，もくろむs 転換ing from 議長，司会を務める to （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, from 調書をとる／予約する to ornament, from picture to 有望な 解雇する／砲火／射撃-アイロンをかける—anywhere, so that they did not 会合，会う another pair of 注目する，もくろむs; the other watching 刻々と, unblinkingly out of a 直面する of steel. Mr. Ricardo had got to know. He crept の近くに to the window and peered in; and then with a low cry 動揺させるing in his throat he leaped suddenly 支援する. Hanaud caught him by the 肘.

"Hush!" he whispered. "What do you see?" But Ricardo had 苦しむd from an 予期しない shock, so strange a thrust of terror that he could not answer. His 血 seemed to him to stand still and his belly to turn over.

"Look! Look!" he gasped at length, and pointed to the window. Hanaud, in his turn, approached and saw. And he too was startled. Standing between the curtain and the window, with his 直面する 圧力（をかける）d against the glass, and his 手渡すs curved about his 注目する，もくろむs to shut out any 微光 from the room, the Vicomte de Mirandol 星／主役にするd out into the 不明瞭, motionless like some old Indian idol. He was watching them as some late student, 乱すd by the 割れ目ing of a twig in a lonely garden, might watch from his curtained 熟考する／考慮する and, discerning robbers, stand rooted to the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. There had been only the thickness of the pane between Mr. Ricardo and that big white 直面する with the 十分な, mincing lips and the bald forehead; and it had not moved. Ricardo had never seen anything more 乱すing, more ghostly. He （機の）カム to Hanaud's 味方する reluctantly, uneasily. A foot away from the window the two men stood and 星／主役にするd. Did the Vicomte imagine that he had not been seen? That they were 星／主役にするing at him and overlooking him? No! For he did move, and the movement was even more grotesque and somehow more alarming than his immobility. For his 直面する 拡大するd in a grin which showed both the 列／漕ぐ／騒動s of his teeth and, 解除するing a fat finger, he beckoned. For a moment the 激しい curtain swung aside, and both the men in the garden saw the 診察するing 治安判事 leaning 今後 from a 議長，司会を務める in the lighted room with the most baffling look of suspense upon his 直面する. The curtain swept 負かす／撃墜する again and hid the room. But the one 簡潔な／要約する glimpse had given to Ricardo a new and vague idea of Arthur Tidon, the 診察するing 治安判事. The astute 裁判官, sitting over against his 犠牲者, playing with him, playing David to his Jonathan until the police arrived? No! There would have been exultation in his 面 if that had been the 事例／患者. As it was, there was suspense. And 恐れる? he asked himself. No. 計算／見積り, perhaps, but above all suspense with its parted lips and wide, 星／主役にするing, expectant 注目する，もくろむs.

Mr. Ricardo's conjectures were 削減（する） short by the 開始 of the door and the 広大な／多数の／重要な パネル盤 of light which stretched of a sudden across the white pebbles of the 運動.

"It is Monsieur Hanaud?" The mincing treble 発言する／表明する floated out softly to the 選挙立会人s.

"It is."

"Will you come in? Monsieur Tidon is with me. I was a little alarmed to see so many 予期しない 訪問者s in my garden at so late an hour. But you shall tell us all that you have done in Bordeaux."

"All? I have been very busy, Monsieur Le Vicomte," said Hanaud, in a 乾燥した，日照りの, uncompromising 発言する／表明する. "Moreau!"

Moreau stepped out of the 不明瞭, and the three 訪問者s followed the Vicomte de Mirandol into the vestibule. But only two of them crossed the threshold of the library. Moreau remained outside the door.

CHAPTER 21. — MUSTARD GAS

THE 診察するing 治安判事 was buttoning a glove upon his 権利 手渡す. He nodded pleasantly to Hanaud and to Mr. Ricardo.

"式のs, my good Hanaud, you disappoint me," he 不平（をいう）d ruefully. "I am no nearer to Bordeaux than I was two days ago."

"On the contrary, sir," Hanaud retorted, smiling. "You are as good as there already."

Tidon, the 治安判事, was a little taken aback. "That is excellent," he said. He seemed upon the point of asking for an explanation, but thought the better of it and contented himself with repeating in an even heartier トン: "Yes, that is excellent! Ah, the Paris police! Nothing is hidden from it for long."

Hanaud shook his 長，率いる. "Monsieur, the longer I practise my profession, the humbler I grow—" And of all the untruths, and the 指名する of them was legion, which Mr. Ricardo had heard Hanaud utter, this most took his breath away and 急落（する），激減（する）d him in a 明言する／公表する of 賞賛. "For more and more 明確に do I 観察する that the 長，指導者 of our success we 借りがある to chance and the mistakes of the other man."

"You shall try to 説得する me of that tomorrow morning," said the 裁判官 of 指示／教授／教育 very politely, and he rose from his 議長，司会を務める and with his left 手渡す he reached for his hat.

Hanaud did not 答える／応じる to that 招待. He had come straight into the room and across it, and now stood with his 支援する to the fireplace, and as far from the door as in that room any man could かもしれない be. Yet to everyone he seemed to 持つ／拘留する the 扱う.

"You are going, Monsieur Le Juge?" he asked 静かに, and Tidon stopped, and he had やめる the 空気／公表する of a man begging 許可 to go, as he answered:

"My car has been waiting for me for some while—"

"For the best part of an hour," Hanaud interrupted.

"You must have passed it in the 中庭 of the old ch穰eau."

"We （機の）カム by the gate which Monsieur de Mirandol was so careful to paint yesterday," said Hanaud; and Mr. Ricardo, realizing somehow that the 空気／公表する was 激しい with stupendous events, but やめる at a loss to guess what events, said to himself: "All this is very singular. Here is the 長，指導者, the very powerful 裁判官 of 指示／教授／教育, asking 許可 of his subordinate to go away, and here is a roomful of people turned into 中心存在s of salt by the mere について言及する by that subordinate that he （機の）カム in by a newly painted gate."

It certainly was 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の. There had been an 極端に faint, an 極端に subtle menace in Hanaud's speech. He ぐずぐず残るd ever so わずかに on the words, but he did ぐずぐず残る on them, and both the Vicomte and the 裁判官 were 乱すd. The 裁判官 was the first to 回復する his serenity.

"Oh, you （機の）カム by that longer way," he said with a smile. "It took you past the Ch穰eau Suvlac. Yes, I understand that you of all men would wish to see what was going on there."

"There was not a light in any window," said Hanaud.

"You have certainly not far to go," said Hanaud; and his words were the 一打／打撃 of a 大打撃を与える upon an anvil. The 裁判官 swung 一連の会議、交渉／完成する upon his heel, as though a masterful, invisible 手渡す was on his 肘.

"Hardly a step, Monsieur Tidon," Hanaud continued suavely. "Hardly a step."

But there was no misreading the ちらりと見ることs which those two men 交流d. One asked: "What do you know?" and the other answered: "I shan't tell you." And again one asked: "You dare to 脅す me?" and the other replied: "I dare to do my 義務." Thus they stood 星／主役にするing at one another, and more than ever Mr. Ricardo was 苦しめるd to see how far the 診察するing 治安判事 fell below his conceptions. Why, the whole 階層制度 of the 法律 was coming 負かす／撃墜する with a 衝突，墜落 in a にわか雨 of dust like some old house which had stood a century too long. Oh, it wouldn't do. It wouldn't do at all!

"After all, there are some 地方のs who turn night into day," Hanaud continued. "Monsieur Le Vicomte, for instance."

The Vicomte was very unhappy at 存在 dragged into the discussion. He smiled unsteadily. "Yes, yes. I work late at night."

"And not in your 罰金 library." It was rather a question than a 声明. "I am a little surprised at that."

The Vicomte, however, was in no difficulty about the reply. He replied, indeed, a little too quickly and complacently, like a man who has foreseen an ぎこちない 調査 and discovered the perfect explanation.

"In the winter I do my unimportant work here. I am shut off from the 勝利，勝つd by the trees. It is やめる still here when every window is 動揺させるing upstairs, and warm. But in the summer I use my big room on the 床に打ち倒す above. It is really, of course, a room for our literary and philosophical 会議／協議会s. Oh yes, we have やめる a small society in the M馘oc and many people do me the honour to come out from Bordeaux to …に出席する them. Women, 式のs! for the most part. I know that to 達成する permanence one must reach the men, but that we minor people cannot hope to do. The ladies, however, yes! It would surprise you to see how many blue-stockings we count in this little corner of フラン—"

Hanaud broke with a savage irony through the smooth, mincing phrases spoken by that too small mouth with the too red lips.

"And amongst those blue-stockings you reckon, no 疑問, the 未亡人 Chicholle?"

Mr. Ricardo had a fancy that the very hearts of those two men were between the anvil and the 大打撃を与える and received the blow. They stood so stupidly, like dolls or like living people mortally 傷つける. Then the Vicomte felt the palms of his 手渡すs and wiped the perspiration away.

"The 未亡人 Chicholle?" he repeated in a faint and curious トン, but his lips trembled and the 指名する was pronounced all awry. Tidon ちらりと見ることd at his friend and his eyebrows went up into his forehead, as much as to say "the man's mad," but, にもかかわらず, his 直面する was deadly white and his 注目する，もくろむs 燃やすd in it like 炎上s. "The 未亡人 Chicholle?" de Mirandol continued. "No, I have never heard of her. It might perhaps 利益／興味 you, Monsieur Hanaud, to see the room in which I work whilst the 天候 is warm. You will 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる, in an instant, my choice of it."

Hanaud shrugged his shoulders. "Since you 招待する me, sir, there will be nothing to see," he replied, but de Mirandol would neither 受託する nor understand the retort.

"But you are wrong, Monsieur Hanaud. For once only, to be sure. I beg you to come and bring your friend."

He was all smiles again and civility. He threw open the door and recoiled はっきりと.

"I had forgotten that there were three of you."

"Monsieur Nicolas Moreau, my assistant." Hanaud stepped 今後 without the least 切望. He was 単に gratifying the wish of his host, had the 空気／公表する, indeed, of a man a trifle bored. Mr. Ricardo, on the other 手渡す, was all agog. He felt that it was very likely that he would 観察する some 詳細（に述べる） of importance which the 残り／休憩（する） had overlooked. Give him a few minutes in that room to use his 注目する，もくろむs and feel its atmosphere and he would pluck its secret out. He was in the very mood for subtle 発見s. The Vicomte led the way. The 回廊（地帯） turned to the left beyond the library and at the 味方する of the house a staircase 機動力のある to a small 上陸. A big door 直面するd them. De Mirandol opened it and switched on the lights. Hanaud and Mr. Ricardo entered a long room with a panelled 塀で囲む upon their left 手渡す and a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of windows upon their 権利.

Mr. Ricardo would not at first go far. He remained by the doorway. This long, low room had a message; from that 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of windows upon his 権利 the lights had 炎d till two o'clock in the morning and then had gone out. What was the message? Mr. Ricardo emptied his mind of its 最大の関心事s. He 産する／生じるd himself to the room. Let the 空気／公表する pulse out its message, he would be the wax cylinder of a dictaphone to receive it. However, he received nothing.

So he looked about the room. There was a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of 議長，司会を務めるs 範囲d against the 塀で囲む, 議長，司会を務めるs ready to be 始める，決める in place for a 会議／協議会 or a lecture. There was a long （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in the middle on which, at one end, were some 調書をとる／予約するs, a blotting-pad, 署名／調印する, a 広大な／多数の／重要な red quill pen, and a pile of sermon paper by the blotting-pad. At the far end opposite to the door was a 演壇 such as you may see in any schoolroom raising the master's desk and 議長，司会を務める above the level of the 床に打ち倒す. A （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with a baize cloth stood upon the 演壇 against the 塀で囲む, and above the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する were the doors of a big cupboard. There was nothing subtle, obscure, exotic, suggestive, bizarre or alarming about the room. It had no message. It was the very place for a philosophical 会議／協議会 at which the ladies predominated. Mr. Ricardo was at a loss. Here he stood in the centre of mysteries like a ship in the centre of a サイクロン. On every 味方する of him the ハリケーン 激怒（する）d, here in the centre was a 背信の 静める. Never had he been so disappointed.

"You see the difference on a summer night between this room and the library," said the Vicomte de Mirandol. "It is 冷静な／正味の and airy. I sit at my place at this （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する here. If I raise my 注目する，もくろむs, I look through the open windows across Suvlac and the Gironde. I see the lights of the ships upon the river. I lave myself in the peace and the open spaces of the night. Thoughts come, the mind receives."

Oh, the Vicomte did not make the mistake of Diana Tasborough and 収容する／認める a knowledge that Mr. Ricardo had seen the lights 炎ing at two o'clock in the morning. He was content to explain the 炎. He sat himself 負かす／撃墜する in his 議長，司会を務める at the long （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, 直面するing the window, and waved his 手渡す to 論証する the width and spaciousness of the dark open country of land and river and 星／主役にするs within his 見解（をとる）.

"Wonderful!" he murmured. "Wonderful!"

"And from this （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する you 配達する your lectures?" Hanaud asked from the 演壇.

"We pull the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する 今後 from the 塀で囲む and 始める，決める a 議長，司会を務める behind it," said the Vicomte. A smile spread over his 直面する. "I shall make a 自白 to you, Monsieur Hanaud. I begin to live when I take my place at that （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and see all those poor people at my mercy for an hour."

Hanaud 発射 the oddest quick ちらりと見ること at de Mirandol. "You begin to live, then? Yes, Monsieur Le Vicomte, you have said nothing truer, I think, in all your life. I understand you very 井戸／弁護士席," he said with a 広大な／多数の／重要な solemnity, dropping the words one by one and very 明確に. Mr. Ricardo was conscious of a thrill of excitement. A scene of a very different 肉親，親類d rose before his 注目する，もくろむs. He was seated again on one of the （法廷の）裁判s of the City Lands in the 主要な／長／主犯 法廷，裁判所 of the Old Bailey. Standing in 前線 of him was a celebrated King's Counsel, and 演説（する）／住所ing the 陪審／陪審員団 over against him on the opposite 味方する of the 法廷，裁判所 he 負傷させる up the 事例／患者 for the 起訴 in a 殺人 裁判，公判 with just that （疑いを）晴らす 審議 and just that deadly use of simple words.

Hanaud raised his 手渡すs to the cupboard doors, of which there were two, 会合 in the middle and 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd at the 最高の，を越すs. Before he could try them, de Mirandol said:

"There is a drawer in the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and in the drawer the 重要な." Hanaud 解除するd the 辛勝する／優位 of the baize which overhung the 味方するs and 公表する／暴露するd the drawer. But he suddenly stood 築く again, 持つ／拘留するing the baize in his 手渡すs and 星／主役にするing at it.

"The old cloth was so 署名／調印する-stained and shabby that I was really ashamed of it," the Vicomte explained before he was asked for any explanation.

"So we put a brand new one on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する—yesterday?" Hanaud 発言／述べるd.

"Yesterday—or the day before—or a month ago. My servant will know," de Mirandol replied, and ever so わずかに his 発言する／表明する shook.

"Yesterday, I think," Hanaud 主張するd 静かに, and now the Vicomte did not 否定する him.

He took the 重要な out of the drawer and 打ち明けるd the cupboard doors and swung them 支援する against the 塀で囲む. He 公表する／暴露するd a shallow 休会, やめる empty, without a shelf, and glistening with white paint. Hanaud delicately 圧力（をかける）d the tip of his finger against the paint and drew it 支援する again whitened.

"Aha! It is not only our gate we paint, I see."

"One idea leads to another," said de Mirandol with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Yes, yes, white paint to green paint, and perhaps green paint to red paint, eh? I think red is the colour we give to our guillotines."

The Vicomte smiled in a sickly fashion. He ちらりと見ることd at Mr. Ricardo, deigning some community with him of 産む／飼育するing and good manners. Jests of this raw 肉親，親類d were to be 推定する／予想するd from the police, and wise men would ignore them.

"You have seen all that you want to see?" he asked of Hanaud.

"I have seen at all events more than I 推定する／予想するd to see," Hanaud replied, locking the cupboard door and putting the 重要な in his pocket. "Besides, we are keeping the 診察するing 治安判事 waiting, and that is not at all seemly."

He opened the door of the room as if he were the host and 招待するd his companions to pass out.

"Monsieur Tidon has without 疑問 already gone," said de Mirandol.

"I think not," Hanaud retorted, smiling politely, and locking the door of the 会議／協議会 議会; and he was 権利. For after they had descended the stairs they saw upon the 塀で囲む of the main 回廊（地帯） the distorted 影をつくる／尾行する of the 裁判官 flung through the open doorway by the library lights. Moreau was still on guard in the hall, and Hanaud spoke to him.

"Could you find the 視察官 for me? I will wait here. It is important."

Moreau saluted and went out of the house. The 影をつくる／尾行する upon the 塀で囲む moved 突然の and then was still again. It seemed that the 裁判官 had an impulse to 干渉する and thought the better of it, and decided to wait. Nobody, indeed, spoke at all whilst Moreau was away. He had left the door open, and the soughing of the boughs in a very light 勝利，勝つd filled the 回廊（地帯） with the sound of the sea rippling over a beach of pebbles. It was 溺死するd by a tramping of feet, and Moreau and the 視察官 appeared at the door.

"You 手配中の，お尋ね者 me, Monsieur Hanaud?"

"Yes. In the room upstairs there is a cupboard above a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する on a 演壇. I shall be 強いるd if it is 調印（する）d. Then the room itself should be 調印（する）d. You will need Monsieur Le Commissaire's 同意, no 疑問. I beg you therefore to 得る it as soon as possible, and 一方／合間 to 始める，決める a guard upon the door. Here is the 重要な."

The 視察官 called in a man from the garden and placed him at the 長，率いる of the stairs, and himself took 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the 重要な.

"I shall see to it," he said, and Tidon's 発言する／表明する was heard 召喚するing Hanaud into the library. Mr. Ricardo followed him as far as the door, and there hesitated, decorum and curiosity once more 戦う／戦いing within him. But the 診察するing 治安判事, who was sitting in an arm-議長，司会を務める, gloved, his hat upon his 膝, his stick in his left 手渡す, 招待するd him in.

"Yes, I have nothing secret to say. De Mirandol, you too, my friend! Will you の近くに the door? So!"

The 治安判事 was very civil, but his 直面する was white, and at times twitched as with some spasm of bodily 苦痛.

"Monsieur Hanaud," he began in a 静かな, formal 発言する／表明する, "whilst you were upstairs, I have been 反映するing upon an idea which I have had in mind the whole-day. I am anxious, of course, in an 事件／事情／状勢 of this importance not to be premature, and not to be 不正な. But the time has come, I am 納得させるd, for me to 演習 my 当局. I relieve you 今後 from all 義務s in 関係 with this 事例／患者."

Mr. Ricardo was dumbfounded! Hanaud relieved of his 機能（する）／行事s, 不名誉d, Stellenbosched, by a little 治安判事 of the 州s! Such an 告示 国境d upon blasphemy, such an 活動／戦闘 upon sacrilege. It was an absurdity, too. Mr. Ricardo certainly had been 軍隊d once or twice to 訂正する the famous 探偵，刑事 and to put him on the better road. But the 是正s had been made and Hanaud had 勝利d. And here was a little Mr. Tidon taking it upon himself, in the plenitude of his ignorance, to snap at the 広大な／多数の／重要な man's tail, like a Pekingese with a Labrador. One little 宣告，判決—that was all that it was necessary to speak—and the Pekingese would be scurrying under the nearest sofa for 避難所. Mr. Ricardo, too, was the man to speak it. He seethed with indignation and chivalry. He would have spoken it but for the 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の grin of 評価 which broadened over Hanaud's 直面する. Hanaud was delighted.

"I am not, of course, unaware of Monsieur Hanaud's 井戸／弁護士席-正当化するd 評判," continued the 診察するing 治安判事, who was himself a little taken aback by Hanaud's 歓迎会 of his 解雇／（訴訟の）却下; "nor must he regard my 活動／戦闘 as in any way a 中傷する upon his abilities. Certainly not! I shall make that やめる （疑いを）晴らす in my final 報告（する）／憶測. But this particular 罪，犯罪 is of an unusual 複雑さ and 除去するd from those more obvious 事件／事情／状勢s with which 精査するd here on the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す at Suvlac. It was"—and the 治安判事 転換d in his 議長，司会を務める. His 発言する／表明する grew stronger and took on a 厳しい 公式文書，認める of 不賛成. His own words were ワイン to him, and gave him 信用／信任. "It was a 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な 失望 to me when Monsieur Hanaud 除去するd himself to Bordeaux. I know perfectly 井戸／弁護士席 that he has a troublesome 調査 there which 要求するs all his time and energies—" Hanaud nodded his 長，率いる.

"The 事例／患者 of the 未亡人 Chicholle," he interrupted.

To Mr. Ricardo it was やめる 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の how that old harridan's 指名する created a perturbation whenever it was について言及するd. The Vicomte de Mirandol had bent under it like a stalk in a 勝利，勝つd. Now Monsieur Tidon was shaken out of his wits. He sat 星／主役にするing open-mouthed like a natural, all his eloquence frozen upon his lips, and his 手渡すs twitching on the 武器 of his 議長，司会を務める. The 未亡人 Chicholle was the 実験（する）ing phrase, the litmus-paper of the 実験. But as Hanaud had 認めるd from the beginning, Arthur Tidon was a man of a 広大な／多数の／重要な 軍隊.

"Whatever the 事例／患者 may be," he 再開するd 刻々と, "it no 疑問 需要・要求するs your 集中 and your presence. That 存在 so, I shall ask de Mirandol's 許可 to use his telephone."

"But certainly, my friend," de Mirandol exclaimed, rubbing the palms of his 手渡すs together. "My house is yours."

The 診察するing 治安判事 hoisted himself with one 手渡す out of his 議長，司会を務める. His words were 会社／堅い enough, but his 脚s were 不安定な. He stood balancing himself upon his feet, and took a step 今後. But the telephone 器具 was at the inner end of the room, and between it and the 治安判事 stood Hanaud; and Hanaud did not move.

"Monsieur Le Juge, with all 尊敬（する）・点," he said, with a deference which やめる surprised his friend, "I beg you to tell me now the message you 提案する to send. I am asking a favour."

"I shall do you no 害（を与える）," Tidon replied with kindliness. "I am going to telephone to the Commissaire of Police that your invaluable services are 要求するd at Bordeaux, and that I therefore with the 最大の 悔いる dispense with your services at Suvlac"—and he paused—"from this instant."

And still Hanaud did not move.

"That means—I ask the question without impertinence —that the orders which I have just given for the 公式の／役人 調印（する）s to be placed on the 会議／協議会 room are not to be carried out?"

"It means that I shall decide that 事柄, with all others connected with the 事例／患者, for myself, and by myself. I 招待する you to stand aside."

Mr. Ricardo was looking now for something heroic and of 古代の times—the 診察するing 治安判事 反抗するd, if necessary dashed with a 選び出す／独身 blow to the ground. But he was in a country where the grades of 当局 are sacred. Hanaud stood aside. "I 悔いる, Monsieur Le Juge," he said meekly. "I had a hope that you would return with me to Bordeaux tonight."

Tidon stopped in his walk and looked はっきりと at Hanaud. "It is you who return," he said with an unpleasant smile, "and I who will not go with you."

It was a strange moment, no 疑問, to 主張する upon 正確な words. Mr. Ricardo was a little puzzled by the 裁判官's pedantry. But he had the upper 手渡す, and even in little things was 性質の／したい気がして to keep it.

"It is a pity," Hanaud replied, and he began to talk in riddles. "For your 手渡す really needs the 技術d attention that you can only get in a clinic. And even then it will be six weeks before the 負傷させる is 傷をいやす／和解させるd."

"My 手渡す!" cried the 裁判官 furiously.

"The 権利 one," Hanaud continued. "It was obvious, when Mr. Ricardo and I had the honour to discuss the Suvlac 罪，犯罪 with Monsieur Le Juge yesterday morning, that monsieur was in かなりの 苦しめる. And the 苦痛 will get worse, 刻々と worse, unless the proper 治療 is 適用するd."

The 裁判官 stood and sought to 星／主役にする Hanaud 負かす／撃墜する. But during the last few moments he had lost his predominance. His gaze was certainly imperious enough to 鎮圧する an army of subordinates, but he had lost 保証／確信 非，不，無 the いっそう少なく. He broke out 概略で:

"And if I 燃やす my 手渡す, Monsieur Hanaud, what in the 指名する of God has that got to do with you?"

"Nothing at all—if you 燃やす your 手渡す," Hanaud retorted coolly. "But you didn't 燃やす your 手渡す, Monsieur Le Juge. You laid it on a gate two nights ago—you and コマドリ Webster too."

"A gate! A gate! The man's mad!" cried Tidon.

"Monsieur Le Vicomte's gate, which he was so careful to 燃やす clean and repaint yesterday," Hanaud continued imperturbably. "And indeed he was やめる 権利. There was a sticky varnish upon that gate of which the 長，指導者 成分 was"—and he produced a blue 電報電信 from his pocket and 協議するd it— "was dichlorethyl sulphide—"

"Poor fellow! Poor fellow! He's やめる mad," the 治安判事 interrupted sympathetically, nodding his 長，率いる at de Mirandol.

"絶対," de Mirandol agreed, and Mr. Ricardo was leaning reluctantly to the same 結論, until Hanaud produced the 電報電信 from his pocket. Hanaud had sent a good many 電報電信s yesterday evening from Pauillac, amongst them one to Scotland Yard for the 長，指導者 of a pharmacologic 研究室／実験室 in the north of England.

"More 一般的に known," Hanaud 再開するd, "as 情熱 gas" —and now there were no interruptions to 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 him with lunacy. "The varnish was invented in the year 1917, when the fortunes of the 同盟（する）s were low. It became advisable to know who the actual people were who forgathered on 確かな nights in a 確かな cottage on the west coast of Ireland. This varnish was spread on the gate, and everybody who went in smeared his 手渡す with it. For an hour nothing happened. But at the end of an hour a sore began to spread. Under the best 条件s, it takes six weeks for that sore to 傷をいやす／和解させる; so that 身元確認，身分証明 became more 確かな and more simple than even finger-prints could make it. The same ingenious 装置 was used upon your gate, Monsieur de Mirandol, two nights ago. And three people were 罠にかける by it."

"Three?" exclaimed Mr. Ricardo, who had been listening open-mouthed and could 持つ／拘留する himself in no longer.

Hanaud looked from de Mirandol, who was standing with his 肘 on the mantelshelf, to Tidon, who had sunk 負かす／撃墜する into a 議長，司会を務める, and he laughed pleasantly. "You will notice, Mr. Ricardo, that you alone exclaim when I say three. The number is no surprise to these gentlemen."

The Vicomte turned and spread out his 手渡すs. "It is 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の," he said with a tremulous sarcasm, "that I have not a trace of this mysterious 毒（薬） upon my 手渡すs."

"But how could you have?" Hanaud returned easily. "You went home from the Ch穰eau Suvlac 早期に and by the ordinary road. Of course you did! 早期に because you had your little 準備s to make, and by the ordinary road because you wished no break in your habits to be noticed. The 情熱 gas was spread only on the little sequestered 私的な gate which was used by 確かな of your 訪問者s after all the world was long in bed."

"But three, you say?" Mr. Ricardo repeated. It might be very wrong of him to break into a discussion so 公式の／役人, but he had really got to understand this point, before other arguments swept it under. "Two—I agree—yes. Monsieur Tidon and コマドリ Webster—but the third? Who else 負傷させるd a 手渡す upon that gate?"

"Evelyn Devenish," said Hanaud.

CHAPTER 22. — THE JUDGE SMOKES A CIGARETTE

MR. RICARDO 公正に／かなり jumped in the 空気／公表する when he heard the third 指名する. He looked at Hanaud anxiously. How could he know? He was just guessing with more than his usual audacity, more than his usual self-信用／信任. But no 抗議する broke from the lips of the two men who were thus arraigned. Tidon the 裁判官 sat hunched in his 議長，司会を務める, his 直面する white as paper, his 注目する，もくろむs pinpoints of 解雇する／砲火／射撃. The Vicomte de Mirandol stood like an enormous flabby child （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd by his governess in one of the 罪，犯罪s of 幼少／幼藍期. He shook from the 栄冠を与える of his bald 長，率いる to his feet, and little wordless deprecating cries were whispered and caught 支援する and whispered again. And 徐々に the damning argument was unrolled like a parchment before Ricardo's 注目する，もくろむs. It was to this house that Evelyn Devenish had come when all the world was in bed. In the 会議／協議会 room she had met her violent death; and her 手渡す showed the same 負傷させる as the 手渡すs of Tidon the 治安判事 and コマドリ Webster the 経営者／支配人 at Suvlac. It was for that 推論する／理由 that it had been lopped off after her death. A 警戒 had been taken, 残酷に by men in a panic of 恐れる, not a sadic 罰 exacted. It would never do to 急落（する），激減（する） that dead woman into the Gironde, however held 負かす／撃墜する by lead, with the selfsame 負傷させる upon her palm as that which gnawed the 手渡すs of コマドリ Webster the 経営者／支配人 and Tidon the 治安判事! No, no! 団体／死体s were 回復するd from rivers. Drags would certainly be used. 警戒s must be taken lest it should come to light that, on the same evening, Tidon the 治安判事 and コマドリ Webster the 経営者／支配人 passed through the same gate.

"As to Madame Devenish," said Tidon, who was the first to 回復する his self-支配（する）／統制する, "I of course know nothing. I do not 否定する, however, that I used that gate two nights ago. Why indeed should I? De Mirandol is my friend. You spoke of 罠（にかける）s, Monsieur Hanaud. Yes, but you 始める，決める a 罠（にかける） for a stoat and a young pheasant loses its 脚. 罠（にかける）s catch the innocent—"

What a change in a man! thought Mr. Ricardo. Five minutes ago it was, "Out with you! You are 解任するd!" Now it was, "There are explanations. Just listen to me, and hear with what a tongue of sugar I can speak!"

But Hanaud was 用意が出来ている. "Monsieur Le Juge, I beg of you," he 抗議するd. "I am, as you have pointed out to me, the subordinate. It is not fitting that I should listen to—shall I say exculpations?—from my superiors. But, on the other 手渡す, the Prefect of Bordeaux has 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d me with a letter to you. He, too, is anxious about this 事例／患者. It seems to reach out tentacles. It is a very octopus of a 事例／患者, and he is eager to hear all that you have to tell him."

"The Prefect of Bordeaux," the 治安判事 repeated. He stretched out a 手渡す as Hanaud produced a letter from his pocket. He read the letter through once and a second time. "You should have told me at once that you had such a letter," he said 厳しく. "But it seems to me that you have dared to play with me, Monsieur Hanaud. I have yet to learn that a clinic and the 県 are synonymous 条件. I shall certainly feel it my 義務 to 代表する your 行為／行う in the proper ４半期/4分の1—just as I feel it my 義務 to 答える／応じる to the wishes of the Prefect, and …を伴って you, even at this hour, to Bordeaux."

He carried off his 敗北・負かす with an admirable 保証／確信. Mr. Ricardo did him that 司法（官）. But it was a 敗北・負かす. There was no longer any question of （犯罪の）一味ing up the Commissaire at Villeblanche upon the telephone and countermanding Hanaud's directions. He rose from his 議長，司会を務める.

"You have this gentleman's car at your 処分, I understand?"

Hanaud 屈服するd. "Mr. Ricardo is very 肉親，親類d to me," he said politely, and opened the door of the room. Moreau in the passage stood to attention. "Moreau, Monsieur Le Juge wishes to return with us. Will you direct him to the car? I follow."

For the fraction of a second Tidon hesitated on the threshold of the room. Did he realize that though the formal words were not spoken, he, the ambitious 治安判事 of the 地区, was really under 逮捕（する）? Or was he already 深い in some subtle argument which would （疑いを）晴らす him from all 参加 in the 罪，犯罪? Mr. Ricardo could not tell. He 始める，決める his hat upon his 長，率いる with his left 手渡す, adjusted it even with jauntiness, and went out of the room. A moment afterwards Ricardo heard his footsteps and those of Moreau upon the pebbles of the 運動. Inside the room Hanaud had turned to the Vicomte de Mirandol.

"Sir," he said, "whether the 法律 can touch you or not I don't yet know. Or whether it must leave public opinion to 天罰（を下す） you to the bone, as without 疑問 it will do. For the moment you are at 一時的に liberty."

Hanaud turned on his heel and went out of the house. He took Mr. Ricardo by the arm and led him に向かって the gate.

"I have one more anxious moment," he said. "We shall see."

The 診察するing 治安判事 was already seated in the car when Hanaud and his friend passed through the gate. They 機動力のある in their turn, Ricardo seating himself by the 味方する of Tidon and Hanaud 直面するing him upon the opposite seat.

"Switch on the headlights, Moreau, and look out," he said, and he himself, turning in his seat, watched the road between the shoulders of Moreau and the chauffeur. The car slid 負かす／撃墜する the hill, crossed the pasture-land and passed the garage before the thing for which Hanaud waited occurred. A man stepped 今後 from the 味方する of the road carrying a 控訴-事例／患者. The car stopped, the スーツケース was 手渡すd up to Moreau, and Hanaud leaned out of the window.

"Did no one hear you?" he asked anxiously.

"No one. The ladies were still in the 製図／抽選-room when I went upstairs. I am sure."

"Good!"

The car went on again, swept 一連の会議、交渉／完成する by the rose-pink arch of the Ch穰eau Suvlac, and almost like some living person, conscious of a 長引かせるd and strenuous 仕事, settled to a swift, 安定した and 正規の／正選手 進歩 along the road to Bordeaux.

The 診察するing 治安判事 spoke with a 穏やかな 利益／興味 in his 発言する／表明する. "That was a 控訴-事例／患者, I think, which was 手渡すd into the car?"

"Yes," Hanaud answered.

"From the Ch穰eau Suvlac, then?"

"Yes," said Hanaud. "I asked the 視察官 upon the road to 安全な・保証する it for me as 静かに as he could."

Then followed a few moments of silence, and then the 治安判事 発言／述べるd: "That is curious. It 含む／封じ込めるs, no 疑問, some pieces of important 証拠."

"No," said Hanaud. "I shall tell you, Monsieur Le Juge, about that 控訴-事例／患者. It was very important that I should get it without the 世帯 of Suvlac knowing anything whatever about it. I cannot myself move until tomorrow. For I shall not know until tomorrow the whole truth of this 事件／事情／状勢. I may have my 疑惑s, but they are not enough. Now if it were known in the ch穰eau that that 控訴-事例／患者 has been packed and taken 内密に away—it is very possible that the 法律's work might be taken out of the 法律's 手渡すs."

The 治安判事 was silent for a little while, and as still as he was silent. It was not indeed until the car had flashed through Pauillac that he spoke again.

"I should be 強いるd, Monsieur Hanaud, if you could find it possible to be more explicit about that 控訴-事例／患者."

"But certainly," he replied cordially. "Amongst us three there is no need for concealments. The 控訴-事例／患者 含む／封じ込めるs some 着せる／賦与するs for Mademoiselle Joyce Whipple."

From the 不明瞭 of the car Tidon asked 静かに: "That young lady has been 設立する, then?"

"Happily, yes," Hanaud returned. "One of those 一打／打撃s of chance, by which it is my 商売／仕事 to 利益（をあげる）, led me to the house of the 未亡人 Chicholle in the Rue Gr馮oire. I was just in time."

"She is alive, then?"

"Yes. She has been 概略で 扱う／治療するd. But she is young. She has 設立する, I think, tonight some 補償（金）s, so that tomorrow we shall all that happened two nights ago at the Ch穰eau Mirandol."

"That is the best of news," said the 治安判事. "I had hardly dared to hope for it."

"You can understand, therefore, my 救済," Hanaud continued, dwelling upon this 事柄 of the 控訴-事例／患者 with what seemed to Mr. Ricardo a needless particularity, "that it was 安全な・保証するd without the knowledge of the 世帯. Were it known there that Joyce Whipple was 安全な and that the whole truth must be known no later than tomorrow—why, as I say, the 法律's work of 罰 might be taken out of the 法律's 手渡すs—"

In other words, there would be a 自殺—perhaps two —perhaps even three, 反映するd Mr. Ricardo. For who knew how many of the 世帯 of Suvlac were 巻き込むd in the mystery?

"I understand you very 井戸／弁護士席," said the 治安判事, and again he relapsed into silence.

But as the ぼんやり現れる of light began to show in the sky above Bordeaux, he said: "I shall smoke," and he felt in his pocket for his cigarette 事例／患者.

Hanaud laughed with a very evident 公式文書，認める of 救済. "I have been longing to hear you say that," and a rustle of paper 知らせるd Mr. Ricardo that the 有望な blue packet of Maryland cigarettes was in Hanaud's fingers.

"I have a match here. You will 許す me," he said. A scratching, a spurt of 解雇する／砲火／射撃, for a few seconds a tiny creeping blue light and then the yellow 炎上; and the dark 内部の of the リムジン became a place of wavering 影をつくる／尾行するs with two 直面するs brightly lit. Hanaud held the light to Tidon's cigarette, then he lighted his own; and for a few momenta the two men looked at each other with a 安定した gaze.

"I thank you," said the 治安判事 静かに.

Hanaud touched the light to Tidon's cigarette... For a
few moments the two men held each other in a 安定した gaze.

The match burnt out and once more 不明瞭 fell. The two men smoked in silence, the glow of their cigarettes waxing and 病弱なing; and then Tidon's cigarette fell to the 床に打ち倒す, and as Hanaud stamped upon it a smell as of bitter almonds filled the car. Hanaud let 負かす／撃墜する the windows.

"Your mouth to the 空気／公表する, my friend," he cried, and Ricardo obeyed, squeezing himself away from the thing which now, shaking and swaying with every 揺さぶる of the car, lay behind him in the corner of the carriage. Already, however, they were 横断するing the city. A few minutes and the car stopped at the hotel in the Cours de L'Intendance. It was half-past two in the morning, and not a light was in any window, not a wayfarer in the street.

"Moreau shall （犯罪の）一味 for the night porter,"—said Hanaud; "You will say nothing of this. I am a servant of the 法律. I will not have it shamed more than need be."

"You 遂行する／発効させるd him," said Mr. Ricardo with a shiver of horror.

"Better I than the man with the guillotine," Hanaud answered sombrely. He helped Mr. Ricardo out of the car and 安定したd him across the pavement. He placed him in a 議長，司会を務める in the hall and bade the porter fetch a tumbler 十分な of brandy, and stood by whilst Ricardo drank it.

"Shall I help you to your room?" he asked solicitously, but Mr. Ricardo shook his 長，率いる. 持つ／拘留するing by the balustrade he walked, his 脚s trembling beneath him, up the stairs. Hanaud returned to the car, and a minute later the street was empty again.

CHAPTER 23. — MR. RICARDO LUNCHES

JULIUS RICARDO had spent a wearing day which would have 税金d even a younger and more adventurous person; and such a shock had befallen him at the end that his sensibilities were やめる stunned. It was not to be wondered at, then, that he slept like a スピードを出す／記録につける. Tidon the 治安判事, the Vicomte de Mirandol, carrying their questions and perplexities with them. Not one ghost haunted his pillow, not a question 疫病／悩ますd him with dreams. He slept as boys sleep after a football match. Neither the brightness of the morning nor all the clocks of Bordeaux could awaken him. The hour of noon had struck before he passed in a fraction of a second through one of those excruciating nightmares which at times に先行する the actual awakening. Excruciating, because he could neither cry out nor move, but must 嘘（をつく） like another Merlin under a perpetual （一定の）期間. He dreamed that he lay in an inferno of acrid smoke, and that while Tidon, the 治安判事, held his 手渡す and pointed and said, "There! That is the place," old Mrs. Tasborough, delicately and without 成果／努力, 厳しいd his arm at the wrist with a fruit-knife. He sat up with a cry upon his lips and his heart racing. Hanaud was sitting by his 病人の枕元, with a 黒人／ボイコット cigarette between his teeth and his fingers on Mr. Ricardo's pulse.

Mr. Ricardo, aware as he swam 上向きs into consciousness that he had cried out in alarm, 注目する，もくろむd his 訪問者 with disfavour.

"I may be old-fashioned," he said, flapping a 手渡す up and 負かす／撃墜する in the 空気／公表する like the fin of a fish, "but I cannot 耐える any but the mildest of Turkish タバコ in my bedroom."

"Good!" Hanaud answered cordially, without, however, letting him off one 選び出す／独身 puff. "Then the more I blow the Maryland, the sooner you will rise from your bed."

The events of yesterday （人が）群がるd 支援する into Ricardo's mind. "You will want me," he cried. "I must give my 証拠. A 裁判官 died by his own 手渡す in my Rolls-Royce car. It is all most important. I beg you to retire."

Already Mr. Ricardo had flung 支援する the bedclothes and rung the bell for Elias Thomson. He was on his way to the 県 within the hour, where, indeed, he had little on that day to do but 確認する Hanaud's narrative. He learnt, however, the actual 方式 of Tidon's death. He had carried a cigarette in his 事例／患者 of an especial thickness. At each end there was a tiny wad of タバコ, but the 事例／患者 was really filled by a glass tube 含む／封じ込めるing a ninety-per-cent dose of prussic 酸性の.

"I told you that he was a very clever man," said Hanaud as he sat 負かす／撃墜する afterwards to 昼食 with his friend in the restaurant of the Chapon Fin. "He was ready, you see."

"And you knew that he was ready," said Mr. Ricardo.

Hanaud shrugged his shoulders. "I 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd it, and—I shall be frank with you—I was glad when he took the way out that he did. He was of the magistracy. The スキャンダル will be enormous as it is when all the truth is known, as it must be at the next assizes. It would have been dangerous, had Monsieur Tidon lived to have received the 宣告，判決 of the 法廷，裁判所."

"He would have been 宣告，判決d for the 殺人 of Evelyn Devenish?" Mr. Ricardo exclaimed in bewilderment, and Hanaud 急いでd to interrupt him.

"Oh, no, no, my friend!"

Mr. Ricardo threw up his 手渡すs. "I am 流浪して in a もや," he cried. "I hear サイレン／魅惑的なs and 霧-horns on this 味方する and that telling me my position, but the more I hear the more the もや thickens, and いっそう少なく and いっそう少なく am I sure of my position."

"Try this smoked salmon," said Hanaud, and looking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 広大な／多数の／重要な room. "On the rare occasions when a 豊富な friend has taken me to lunch with him at the Chapon Fin I am never やめる sure whether I am lunching in a 激しく揺する-garden or at the 底（に届く） of an 水槽."

Mr. Ricardo was familiar with these disconcerting moods of He filled his companion's glass and his own with a Lafite of 1899. "First I had a little idea. Then your chauffeur 強化するd it. Then you very wonderfully 確認するd it."

Mr. Ricardo drew himself up. He spoke with a good 取引，協定 of dignity.

"A 確かな 量 of raillery, I 推定する／予想する from you. More! When you are hot upon the 追跡する and I interrupt you, I know that I shall be leapt upon and gibbeted. I may not like it, but I don't resent it. I know that I am 単に an 年輩の gentleman of no consequence, who has had the good fortune to become the friend of a very 利益／興味ing personage. But when the whole 事件／事情／状勢 is, as you tell me, over, and you are at your 緩和する whilst I am dancing upon hot plates, I should prefer, I 収容する／認める it, to 得る some 救済 from my perplexities."

At once Hanaud's big 直面する clouded with 悔恨. "But, my dear sir," he cried, "no one could value a friendship more than I value this one I have the honour to 株 with you—I do not play with you. No! I tell you the truth!" He was pleading 真面目に, a man very much moved. "Listen! We—you and I —we go to the 県 at Villeblanche. Good! We 会合，会う Monsieur Tidon and he takes us into his room."

"Yes," Ricardo agreed.

"He lays 負かす／撃墜する his hat and his 茎 on a 味方する-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. Good! But he keeps on his gloves. All through that interview he keeps on his gloves. Now I tell you. On the 行う／開催する／段階—yes, they keep on their gloves. Why, I don't know. And Monsieur Clemenceau —yes, he too. But apart from the actors and Monsieur Clemenceau, people in a room take off their gloves. So I wonder. Then a moment （機の）カム whilst you were telling your story, a very curious moment. You speak of that room at the door of which you knocked in the dead of night. You say, 'It is Diana Tasborough's room,' and in an exasperation at the difficulty of the problem, he strikes his 権利 手渡す flat upon his （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. Do you remember?"

"Yes."

"At once he turns his 支援する upon us and his 直面する to the window."

"Yes."

"He 解除するs his left arm and plays with the bolt."

That scene in the 治安判事's room was growing clearer and clearer to Ricardo's recollections under the 刺激 of Hanaud's narrative.

"Yes," he agreed.

"But to me, it seemed that he was 持つ／拘留するing himself up by that bolt. His 団体／死体 swayed a little. I had the clearest impression of a man about to faint. Then he spoke, and in a 発言する／表明する so weak and feeble that I cannot but pity him. And it was a long while before he turned 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and showed us his 直面する again. So I wonder all the more. And I remember that コマドリ Webster has a 負傷させるd 手渡す. And when we reach the Ch穰eau Suvlac I make an excuse to send you on and I speak 個人として with your chauffeur. Aha, you did not like it that I converse with your chauffeur. No, but it was 井戸／弁護士席 I converse with him. I learn two things—yes, first an idiom, which I will use in 予定 time, and next an important 確定／確認 of my idea. I say: 'When that gentleman hangs himself by the left 手渡す to the bolt of the window, what 空気／公表する had he?' I ask him that, and he answer—now let me get it 権利—he answer: 'Gorblimey, he was all in. He looked for it.' Gorblimey—yes, that was good—I make a 公式文書，認める to remember him, but the 残り／休憩（する）, 'He was all in. He looked for it' —that I 設立する, even with my knowledge of your tongue, a little difficult. So I have to do the examination, and I find the chauffeur means just what I 推定する／予想するd. Tidon was about to faint. He had dashed his 手渡す 負かす／撃墜する upon his desk and was in such 苦痛 that he must hang himself to the window bolt to save himself from 落ちるing. There, then, are I and the chauffeur. Now for you."

"Yes, now for me," said Mr. Ricardo, leaning 今後 with enjoyment, all his dignity and indignation やめる forgotten. He was to hear what a 罰金 part he had played in this 調査. He was not very sure about it himself. But he was going to be told now.

"We were on the terrace of Suvlac, you and I. You look through the window and you see in the 影をつくる／尾行する of that room a man with his 支援する to you."

"Yes."

"And you cry out in a 発言する／表明する of 広大な／多数の／重要な certainty; 'The 診察するing 裁判官.'"

"Yes."

"But it was not the 診察するing 裁判官 at all. No, it was コマドリ Webster. Now those two men, they are not so unlike one another. No! On the other 手渡す, they are not so like one another, either. So I ask myself, indeed I ask you, if you remember, why you make this mistake with so much 有罪の判決. You cannot tell me. にもかかわらず, I wonder. There must be some 推論する／理由. And then I see. That poor man supports his 権利 手渡す between the buttons of his jacket, just as コマドリ Webster supports his 権利 手渡す in a sling. That little fact opens a world to me of conjectures and 可能性s. The 傷害 done to Webster by the ワイン-圧力（をかける） —it may be—yes, no 疑問. But I think it more likely that both the 診察するing 裁判官 and Webster receive their 傷つける at the same place and in the same way. You see, I begin to ask myself, have I an enemy in that excellent 診察するing 裁判官? Oh, you help me—all through this 事例／患者 you help me very much."

"How? How?" Mr. Ricardo asked greedily as he helped himself to a filet mignon. "For instance?"

"In the little things and the big things," Hanaud replied. "For the little things you tell me of the 広大な／多数の／重要な change in Mademoiselle Tasborough—how she, who had queened it in her small 始める，決める, was now the submissive poor companion and did not seem to notice the alteration in her position. To me that was very 利益／興味ing. The old lady of no account for years, suddenly finding herself in 当局, 掴むing upon it, 推定するing upon it, becoming captious and petulant—that I understand easily. But the young queen with her 罰金 着せる／賦与するs and her money and her houses, submitting to orders and けん責（する），戒告s—in these days —and untroubled by them—no, that puzzled me. The little pinpricks, the continual finding fault—they get on the 神経s. One resents them more and more instead of 中止するing to notice them at all. It was 重要な, that curious 詳細（に述べる） —much more 重要な than the fact that she had given up London in the season for Biarritz out of it. You 示唆するd to me some very strange 革命 in that 行方不明になる Tasborough's character, the coming of a 広大な／多数の／重要な obsession. Yes."

Hanaud sat for a little while with a smile upon his 直面する. Morning and evening he was in the habit of 警告 himself, "You have to を取り引きする people, not with marionettes," and it was a very 限定された 楽しみ to him, when he was led to the truth out of a very ジャングル of mystery by some curiously illuminating little sidelight thrown by a variation in 行為／行う and character, which at first sight might seem of no more importance whatever. Mr. Ricardo, however, was not content to leave him long in this contented muse.

"And in the big way I helped you too?"

"To be sure. This Brie is excellent, isn't it? At the Chapon Fin, whether it be an 水槽 or a 激しく揺する-garden, one eats 井戸／弁護士席. So! Some coffee and some 罰金 de la maison? Yes? And one of those big fat cigars which spoil the fit of your 罰金 tourist 控訴. Good. I light him, and I tell you quick what you want to know. Else the next time you give me a cigar, I find a ninety-per-cent dose of prussic 酸性の waiting for me within it. Yes, my friend, in the big things you help me. For if you had not seen the lights 炎ing in the 会議／協議会 room of the Ch穰eau Mirandol at two o'clock in the morning, we should all still be 流浪して in the もや you speak of, and the adorable Joyce Whipple would be lying still and silent under the clay of the Rue Gr馮oire instead of sauntering in with the pretty nonchalance of her 肉親，親類d in her smart blue frock, her taupe silk stockings and her 向こうずねing little decorative shoes, to take 昼食 with her lover at the Chapon Fin."

A very pleasant and friendly look lit up his 直面する as he spoke, and Mr. Ricardo turned about in his 議長，司会を務める. Joyce Whipple was standing just within the doorway of the restaurant, 注意するing no one except Bryce Carter, who was asking the 長，率いる waiter for a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. The newspapers had not as yet any その上の 開発s of the 罪，犯罪 of Suvlac to 申し込む／申し出 to their readers. No one in the restaurant, except Hanaud and Ricardo, had a 疑惑 that the very 削減する and pretty girl standing by the door was the one whose 見えなくなる was supposed to be utterly baffling the police. Though there were 調印するs to Mr. Ricardo's 注目する，もくろむs of the ordeal she had been through in the pallor of her cheeks and the 影をつくる／尾行するs about her big 注目する，もくろむs, and in a 確かな gesture and look of wonder when she took her seat at her （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, as though she could not believe that she was alive and 解放する／自由な. But her 注目する，もくろむs very quickly returned to her companion's 直面する.

"We shall take no notice of them, eh?" said Hanaud. "Not a ちらりと見ること! Not even at those わずかな／ほっそりした young 脚s. No! We leave them to talk, and I tell you they will not talk about dead kings. No, Gorblimey!"

Julius Ricardo let the uncouth phrase pass without a けん責（する），戒告. If Hanaud had the ambition to talk like a chauffeur, that was his 事件／事情／状勢. Ricardo would not 干渉する. He was suddenly in 苦痛. He had been pierced by the 不正 of his friends.

There was Joyce Whipple at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する across the restaurant, her 注目する，もくろむs 向こうずねing, dimples coming and going in her cheeks, and not a thought for him. Had she or had she not told the story of her adventures that morning? Yes, she had. And Hanaud knew that story? He did. He had no 疑問 taken some 活動／戦闘 upon it? He had. 井戸／弁護士席, then! Here was the man who had helped kept in the dark. What a スキャンダル!

"I do not even know who killed Evelyn Devenish," he exclaimed, spreading out his 手渡すs.

"To that I can answer," Hanaud replied 厳粛に, "this: コマドリ Webster was 逮捕（する）d at eleven o'clock this morning on a 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of 殺人."

"And Diana Tasborough?" Mr. Ricardo asked.

"Oh, no, no, my friend. That young lady had nothing to do with it."

"In spite of that obsession?"

"Because of that obsession," replied Mr. Hanaud, and Mr. Ricardo was conscious of an 巨大な 救済.

"And the old lady on the 王位?" he 追求するd.

"Still on the 王位," answered Hanaud, and Mr. Ricardo, to his shame, had no feelings of 救済 or さもなければ.

But at last he had 説得するd Hanaud into a mood of 公表，暴露, and his questions 宙返り／暴落するd out of him, leaping and 衝突／不一致ing and and creep about so furtively afterwards? And what was it that you, Hanaud, discovered in Diana Tasborough's room? And where was Diana when Joyce Whipple snapped off the light and I rapped upon the glass door? And how did the mask come to be caught up in the tree? Yes, and a word about that 宙返り／暴落するd bed, if you please. And how, in spite of your 罰金 非常線，警戒線 of police, was Joyce brought to the Rue Gr馮oire? And how did you learn of her coming? And why did you 調印（する） up an empty cupboard, and a room with nothing in it but for a few 議長，司会を務めるs and （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs? Yes, and since we are talking of the Ch穰eau Mirandol, who spread the 情熱 gas upon the gate, and why? Give me an answer to some of these perplexities and then I have a hundred other questions for you. For instance, how did Joyce Whipple's bracelet find itself in the basket? And how—"

But at this point Hanaud clutched his forehead with his 手渡すs in so desperate a frenzy that Mr. Ricardo 滞るd.

"If you continue," Hanaud 警告するd him, "in one minute I go blah-blah."

"Blah, one word," Mr. Ricardo 訂正するd, the habit of 正確 reasserting its 当局.

"井戸／弁護士席, blah, then, if you 主張する—though I should have said—井戸／弁護士席, let it go. More of your questions and I am blah. Yes, for just at this moment I cannot answer half of them. In two days' time, perhaps. Oh, you shall know all, my friend, never 恐れる, but first let me get smooth and straight the history of this dark and lawless 商売／仕事."

He sat and smoothed out the white tablecloth with gentle 広範囲にわたる movements of his palms, as if he were wiping away the creases and 倍のs in the 記録，記録的な／記録する of the amazing 罪，犯罪. Then he smiled a little and raised his 注目する，もくろむs to his companion's 直面する.

"一方／合間 I give you an answer to two questions you have not asked. Why was there something familiar and 正確な and pedantic in the utterance of コマドリ Webster? Aha! You jump. Yes, you had forgotten. And why was the flyleaf torn from some of the 容積／容量s in that queer little collection at the 長，率いる of his bed? Aha! You jump again. Good! You do 井戸／弁護士席 to jump. The answer to both those questions is the same: コマドリ Webster is a renegade priest."

If Ricardo had jumped a little at the questions, he rose clean out of his 議長，司会を務める at the answer. For a moment he felt his hair stirring upon his scalp. Then he slowly let himself 負かす／撃墜する again.

"Of course," he said in a whisper. Then he 解除するd his 注目する，もくろむs in a piteous 控訴，上告. "When I read a 調書をとる／予約する, I must first of all look at the last page. I cannot 耐える it unless I do."

Hanaud smiled. "You have only, I think, to look across the room to see the last page of this 調書をとる／予約する," he said. But he started as he spoke, and directed a 警告 ちらりと見ること at his companion. For Joyce Whipple and Bryce Carter were crossing to their （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. Joyce held out a 手渡す to each of the two men.

"I have only this instant seen you. How shall I thank you?" she asked in a low 発言する／表明する, but 涙／ほころびs sprang into her 注目する，もくろむs, and to both of them they were thanks enough.

"I shall tell you how," Hanaud replied. "You shall sit 負かす／撃墜する and take your coffee with us."

But Joyce shook her 長，率いる. "We hurried over our coffee, because I want to get 支援する to my bed. I could sleep for two days," and though she laughed, she delicately yawned. It was as much as she could do to keep her 注目する，もくろむs open.

"I have an idea," cried Hanaud. "You shall sleep for two days, mademoiselle. That is the time I want. And in two days' time we dine together, the four of us, at my little hotel on the Place des Quinconces, and then we tell, each in turn, what each one knows, and then this poor Mr. Ricardo will be able to sleep too, Gorblimey!"

Joyce Whipple looked a little puzzled, but as Mr. Ricardo was delighted to 観察する, she was too 井戸／弁護士席 bred to pass any comment on the 予期しない ejaculation.

CHAPTER 24. — MEANING OF THE CONFERENCE ROOM

A FORTNIGHT passed, however, before 決まりきった仕事 had finished its work and placed the woven pattern of the 罪，犯罪 in the 広大な／多数の／重要な 探偵，刑事's 手渡すs. Hanaud then sought out once more Mr. Ricardo and his 罰金 Rolls-Royce car, and an hour afterwards the two men stood at the 最高の，を越す of the staircase outside the 会議／協議会 room. It was eleven o'clock in the morning, the sunlight 注ぐing in through every window and lying in 広大な／多数の／重要な splashes of gold upon the 床に打ち倒す; and the house as still as a tomb. For the Vicomte, still at 一時的に liberty, had gone to his 宿泊するing in Bordeaux, and only the police 占領するd this ch穰eau on the Gironde. The 幅の広い linen 禁止（する）d with the 公式の／役人 調印（する）s had been 除去するd, but the door was still locked, and Hanaud, in his most vexatiously 劇の mood, took a portentous time to discover the 重要な in his pockets.

"It was within this room, then, that Evelyn Devenish was 殺人d," said Mr. Ricardo in a 発言する／表明する of awe.

"It was here," said Hanaud. "Perhaps at—the very moment when you were looking out に向かって the lighted windows from your bedroom."

"I heard no cry," said Mr. Ricardo, shaking his 長，率いる. He had not forgotten the distance between the two houses, but he could not believe that so direful a 罪，犯罪 had been committed in that 有望な room without some message floating across the night's dark silence to call him out of his 無関心／冷淡.

"There was no cry," Hanaud replied. From his sombre certitude he might have 補助装置d at the scene. "A moan perhaps, a 動揺させる in the throat, hardly even that—" and turning the 重要な he threw open the door.

Like a good 行う／開催する／段階-経営者／支配人 he had 用意が出来ている his 影響s. The long room was no longer a 会議／協議会 room though more than ever it was a place of 議会. For the leaves of the long （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する had been 除去するd, and the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する itself, dwarfed into insignificance, barely 占領するd a corner. On the other 手渡す, the 議長，司会を務めるs which had lined the 味方する 塀で囲む were now 範囲d in 整然とした 列／漕ぐ／騒動s 直面するing the 演壇, with a straight passage from the door dividing them like an aisle. But it was the 面 of the 演壇 itself which riveted Mr. Ricardo's attention and 始める，決める his 注目する，もくろむs blinking. The （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する had been 始める，決める 今後 from the 塀で囲む, and in place of the green baize it was draped now with a 黒人／ボイコット 棺-棺／かげり 国境d with white. Upon the 棺／かげり were laid out three 広大な／多数の／重要な 調書をとる／予約するs with 幅の広い markers of crimson silk and gold clasps which locked, a chalice and a box of gold inlay, and two big golden candelabra, each with six 支店s, and each 支店 持つ／拘留するing a tall 黒人／ボイコット candle 構内／化合物d of sulphur and pitch. The candles were lit, and 燃やすd with a blue 炎上 and an evil stench. And a 広大な／多数の／重要な crucifix of ebony with an ivory Christ stood upside 負かす／撃墜する. Mr. Ricardo realized with a shock of repulsion that he was gazing at a horrid parody of an altar.

He 解除するd his 注目する，もくろむs above the 演壇. The cupboard was open, its doors 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd at the 最高の，を越す lay flat on either 味方する against the 塀で囲む, and the white paint, so fresh and thickly bedaubed over the 休会 on his last visit, had now with infinite care been 捨てるd away. He was gazing at an altar-審査する painted by a degenerate who had dipped his 小衝突 in nightmares. On one パネル盤 nude 人物／姿／数字s 持つ／拘留するing 手渡すs danced wildly 支援する to 支援する; on the other, deformities with white fat human 直面するs to turn the heart sick, はうd and 群れているd in a house of 苦痛. The rewards here, the 拷問s there, and between them on the 塀で囲む of the 休会, a 青年, a 人物／姿／数字 of sheer beauty, slender, 築く, and white as a girl, with a 直面する too delicate for a man's, and blue lustrous 注目する，もくろむs which seemed to （人命などを）奪う，主張する all other 注目する，もくろむs and 燃やすd with an unutterable sadness. With a shiver Ricardo 回避するd his gaze. He turned to the windows and saw the good sunlight lying 幅の広い on green vines and brown river and the white sails of ships. But, even so, he felt those blue 注目する，もくろむs intolerably 有望な 燃やすing into his 支援する, and bidding him turn and 株 their immitigable 悲惨.

Mr. Ricardo gazed at a 人物／姿／数字 of sheer beauty—a 青年
with lustrous 注目する，もくろむs 燃やすing with unutterable sadness.

"The room, then, was in this array that night when I looked across from my window in the Ch穰eau Suvlac?" he asked in a low 発言する／表明する, as a man speaks in a chapel. But he spoke still looking from the window to the Gironde, and though he was unaware of it, his 手渡すs clung to the でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる.

"There was one 広大な／多数の／重要な difference," said Hanaud behind him, and for once Mr. Ricardo's curiosity was stilled. He shrank even from a guess as to wherein that difference had lain. With a movement of real 暴力／激しさ, he unlatched and flung open the window and leaning out drank in the clean, fresh 空気／公表する. He was afraid now to know what had happened in that room. He had a glimpse into an abyss where loathsome creatures pullulated in a わずかな／ほっそりした. He heard Hanaud move 負かす／撃墜する the room and blow out the candles.

"Those three 調書をとる／予約するs?" he asked.

Hanaud answered with some pride, like a man who has just learnt a new thing. "They are 'The Grimoire of Honorius,' 'The Lemegeton or Lesser-重要な of Solomon Rabbi,' and 'The Grand Grimoire.'"

Mr. Ricardo was no wiser. "What do they 含む／封じ込める?"

"Conjurations, rituals. This," he said, touching 'The Grand Grimoire', "evokes the 最高の 飛行機で行く-the-Light by means of the 爆破ing 棒 which drove Adam and Eve from 楽園. This," and he touched 'The Lesser—重要な', "始める，決めるs out the 祈りs by which the evil spirits can be conjured to 害（を与える） one who is hated, and this," his 手渡す 残り／休憩（する）d on 'The Grimoire of Honorius', "has been held to 支持する 殺人."

He had begun upon a satirical 公式文書，認める, but it did not carry him beyond the first of the 容積／容量s. For the other two he had only 軽蔑（する） and 怒り／怒る, knowing the 行為 which they had been 範囲d upon that （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する to 始める，決める off.

"And the 青年 painted on the altar-審査する?" Mr. Ricardo asked.

"The lord of all evil," Hanaud replied. "Lucifer, Satan —another 指名する too, Adonis"—and, as Mr. Ricardo started—"yes, Adonis."

He seated himself by the 味方する of Ricardo in the 休会 of the window. "My friend, it is not always as a goat that the devil is worshipped. Even in the old days he was supposed to appear in silken habiliments, the young man, beautiful and 冷淡な as ice, who gave nothing in return for worship but 失望. Adonis is one of his 指名するs."

Mr. Ricardo, however, was not thinking of that queer 身元確認，身分証明 of the Devil with the shepherd of the legends. He was 解任するing the scene at the dinner-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する on the night of his arrival at the Ch穰eau Suvlac, when Joyce broke out in a little 盛り上がり of hysteria to Evelyn Devenish: "You needn't look at me. It's not I who dispense the 冷淡な." Mr. Ricardo turned himself about now and 直面するd the picture of the marvellous 青年, his sandals laced about his 脚s, his ヒョウ 肌 girdled about his waist and his long spear in his 手渡す. Wherever he turned the blue 注目する，もくろむs seemed to follow him, unutterably sad, 命令（する）ing his 忠誠.

"So Joyce knew," he said, 軍隊ing himself from the contemplation of the 控訴，上告ing 人物／姿／数字 upon the 塀で囲む. "Already on that night she knew of this room!"

"Something of this room," Hanaud 訂正するd.

"And understood its 儀式s."

"Again, something of its 儀式s."

"As you did—at once. Yes," and Mr. Ricardo marvelled as he recollected here a 詳細（に述べる）, there another which had been, which still was, a mystery to him, and yet from the beginning had been lucid as glass to his companion.

But Hanaud was quicker to read Mr. Ricardo's mind than he had been any of those mysteries. "No, my friend," he 勧めるd. "You may turn Adonis into the Devil if you like, but you mustn't turn me into a God. I understood not the first little least thing about that 説 of Joyce Whipple's. I was as puzzled as you— yes, until that hour when you saw me coming out of the Archiepiscopal Palace at Bordeaux."

"But I never told you that I saw you," Mr. Ricardo exclaimed.

"No, but you did see me. I saw that you saw me. There were you in the centre of the square standing with the mouth open and the 注目する，もくろむs all poppy, 説 to yourself 'Gorblimey!'"

"Never," Mr. Ricardo interrupted energetically. "Nor are my 注目する，もくろむs poppy. On the contrary. In moments of agitation they recede."

"Gorblimey, or the words to that 影響," Hanaud continued calmly. "I had spent an hour, then, with his Grace's librarian and I had learnt some things, I can tell you. Oh! Oh! Oh! Very disappointing, the Devil. Even the meat at those old Sabbaths was offal, and he himself spreading the 冷淡な of the glaciers about him." Suddenly he stretched out a 手渡す に向かって the left-手渡す パネル盤 of the ingenious altar-審査する. "No wonder they danced furiously, those poor people in their forest glades. No wonder the first in favour was the one who danced faster than the others. They had to keep warm," and again the 公式文書，認める of satire died away. "Yet let us not forget. All these ludicrous mad fancies led to a 広大な／多数の／重要な 罪，犯罪—committed here—in this sunlit room in which we sit—as in other places they have often done before."

He looked about the room, 再建するing in his thoughts the succession of events, and 再開するd:

"I have brought you here not to tell you what happened. That Joyce Whipple can do far better than I, for with her own 注目する，もくろむs she —curious?—and the next morning, or the same night, returned. Aha! I begin to smell a skunk. Yes! Then in the room of Mademoiselle Tasborough I come across a remarkable thing."

"Yes," said Ricardo. "I am there. A picture of the Doge's Palace on the Grand Canal, though for the life of me I could not see anything 発言／述べる able in it at all."

"There was nothing remarkable in it," Hanaud 観察するd. "No. What I did see was that," and again his 手渡す darted out に向かって the altar. "A crucifix with an ivory 人物／姿／数字 of the Christ hung above her 令状ing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する against the 塀で囲む with its 長，率いる 負かす／撃墜する, the feet up. I didn't move it."

"I agree," said Ricardo. "You touched nothing."

"You and I went on to Villeblanche, and whilst we were away mademoiselle, who was still 残り／休憩（する）ing in her room. And he, too, saw that crucifix. She had not changed its position. She probably never thought of it."

"He （機の）カム 支援する to change it!" cried Mr. Ricardo. "He meant to change it 内密に, to 避ける the スキャンダル. That was why he crept so furtively along the terrace. That was why you said the readjustment had been made!"

"Yes. The second time we entered that room I slipped the crucifix off its nail and 始める，決める it to stand upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and against the 塀で囲む, as a crucifix should stand, whilst you, my friend, were 調査（する）ing the mysteries of the Grand Canal."

At another time Mr. Ricardo might 井戸／弁護士席 have taken offence at Hanaud's irony and repelled it with stinging words such as "Oh, indeed!" and "To be sure." But he was by now wrought to a pitch of amazement and perplexity which made everything trivial except the satisfaction of his curiosity. The amateur of sensations sat 今後 in the window-seat, his mind a-tiptoe on the most 満足させるing 期待s. Even the question he was now to utter had its thrill; and he attuned his 発言する／表明する to the proper 公式文書，認める of awe.

"So in this—chapel—on that night, the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり was celebrated?"

"Yes."

"By コマドリ Webster?"

"By コマドリ Webster, the priest."

As he spoke, Hanaud took his blue packet of cigarettes from his pocket. Mr. Ricardo, on the other 手渡す, was so startled that he almost put out a 手渡す to 抑制する his companion from a sacrilege. And even when the smoke of the cigarette rose blue, turned brown and shredded away, spreading its pungent odour about this 休会 of the window, he had a feeling that an indiscretion was 存在 committed. The next minute, however, Hanaud began to talk.

"A pretty 事件／事情／状勢! The old Sabbaths—one can understand them better. Poor serfs, hungry, without 楽しみs, in 反乱 against the 広大な／多数の／重要な 不正 which gave all the colour of the world to a handful of nobles and all the 悲惨 of the world to the 残り／休憩（する）. One can see them fermenting to ecstasies of blasphemy and abomination in some forest glade or old burial— ground. But the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり. That's sheer decadence. The people of disappointed ambitions, those who have exhausted the normal joys and crave the forbidden ones, those who would sell their immortal souls for a new thrill, those who look to Satan for the gifts which Christ 辞退するs, the whole 団体／死体 of degenerates with the blackmailers who live on them—犯罪のs 捜し出すing 共犯者s, poisoners 捜し出すing 保護—you heard the mother Chicholle. There were 広大な／多数の／重要な ones whom she would betray. That's the spirit and that's the congregation too. 広大な／多数の／重要な ones rubbing shoulders with the witches of the slums, and all of them looking for their 利益（をあげる） to Adonis there"—and once again his arm 発射 out with a big outspread 手渡す 公然と非難するing the idolatry—"Adonis the Sterile."

"Really! Really!" said Mr. Ricardo, himself aware of the inadequacy of his comment.

"It was the Vicomte de Mirandol who began the 教団 here. An 半端物, exotic creature, half crazy with long 徹夜s, a shallow erudition and a 欠如（する） of 承認, he 設立する importance and no 疑問, too, a 返答 to a thread of mysticism in his nature. Satan's スパイ／執行官 in the Gironde! A position, you understand, 十分な of 産する／生じるing to excitement, that to the 有罪の判決 that the unpardonable sin of The 発覚s has been committed, that again to a savage glorying in it—like a child in a 激怒（する） at 存在 punished who mutters obstinately, 'Rakah, Rakah,' because he who says the word can never be forgiven. Tidon joins the brotherhood—Paris may be the nearer. Diana Tasborough becomes a 候補者. Here a person of standing, there a woman of the town. Jeanne Corisot would hear of it. The very thing for her! And the mother Chicholle! There will be pickings for her out of it. For the people who use the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり are people who want evil things 安全に done."

徐々に the pieces of the puzzle were fitting themselves together in Mr. Ricardo's sight. He could imagine whispers of the 祝賀 spreading very 静かに, very 徐々に, but also very certainly. The dark secret could not be smothered. And whoever had it would also have all the worshippers in the hollow of his 手渡す. He or she could 主張する upon admittance; and the 教団 with its associates would become almost automatically an organization for malevolence and 罪，犯罪. Diana Tasborough's obsession, her insensibility to her companion's petulant 仮定／引き受けること of 当局, at once became 平易な to understand. What would even the most 執拗な stream of querulous けん責（する），戒告s 事柄 to a girl 所有するd by the unholy excitement of a dreadful and forbidden creed?

"But, of course, the keystone of the whole 黒人／ボイコット 商売／仕事 was the fact that コマドリ Webster was an 任命するd priest. The 黒人／ボイコット 集まり postulates the 最高位 of God. God has to be 誘惑するd and tricked into the wafer and the ワイン, before He can be made 支配する to Satan. Only a priest can do that. The celebrant of the goes 支援する to those days when Bordeaux was English. The Websters grew vines and made ワイン in the Gironde as far 支援する as the old times when Gaufridi was burnt for witchcraft at Aix-en-Provence. They fell upon evil days. From proprietors they dwindled to 経営者／支配人s and not very successful merchants in Bordeaux. コマドリ Webster's father was the last of them. コマドリ the son was mistaken enough to believe that he had a vocation for the 聖職者. 半端物? But people are 半端物. There isn't anyone, if you could lay out on a plate the inside of his mind as a 外科医 lays out the inside of your 団体／死体, whom you could call commonplace. There's some queer imp at the heart of each one of us. He was sent to Beaumont College, officiated for a time at a church in London—he was there when his father died—疲れた／うんざりしたd of it and went off."

"With Evelyn Devenish," Mr. Ricardo 宣言するd confidently, but Hanaud shook his 長，率いる.

"She had 前任者s. 売春婦, 売春婦, that fellow! I tell you. With his white hair and his 罰金 looks, and his 空気／公表する of a man 始める，決める apart, and a suggestion of passion which his 注目する，もくろむs would let you see for a moment, he was 致命的な. The women 宙返り／暴落するd for him—"

"Fell for or 宙返り／暴落するd to," said Mr. Ricardo amiably, "and it is the first you mean. It would have been より望ましい if you had meant the second."

For once in a way Hanaud was baffled. He 星／主役にするd at his friend suspiciously, 恐れるing that his 脚 was 存在 distinctly drawn, but he did not 論争; he swept on with his story. "So much （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） we 借りがある to 決まりきった仕事. But we should still have been in very 広大な／多数の／重要な difficulty but for one thing."

"That bundle of letters in コマドリ Webster's room which you photographed," said the irrepressible Mr. Ricardo.

"This time, my friend, you are 権利," Hanaud replied as he lit another cigarette. "That bundle of letters told the whole of the curious little story of passion and intrigue which led to the sale of the Blackett necklace to the mother Chicholle and reached its abominable 最高潮 in this room."

"And he kept those letters!" cried Mr. Ricardo astonishment. But a moment afterwards he remembered a 事例／患者 in his own country in which letters just as 致命的な had been 保存するd. "Isn't it strange that passion should so 誤って導く a man?"

"No! No!" Hanaud interrupted. "In Webster's room, I told you, there was another 推論する／理由 besides passion which made a man keep letters to his undoing. And I preferred even then that second 推論する／理由 of the two. It was cunning, it was a horrible 肉親，親類d of prudence which 説得するd コマドリ Webster to keep those letters. All the passion was on the other 味方する. He—with the letters he kept the mastery over a woman mad with jealousy. For they were 致命的な letters scribbled by Evelyn Devenish, some in that very house 負かす／撃墜する there, the Ch穰eau Suvlac."

At what 正確な date Evelyn Devenish and コマドリ Webster had met, Hanaud was unaware. It was certainly before Webster had introduced Evelyn Devenish to Diana Tasborough at Biarritz. But there had been a compact between the two of them that all letters should be destroyed on the day they were received. Evelyn Devenish, to whose foresight the compact was 予定, had kept to the 取引 faithfully. Not a shred of a letter had been discovered amongst her 所有／入手s. And up to a 確かな date, when they were all together at Biarritz, コマドリ Webster had kept his word too. But there had come a time when Evelyn Devenish's passion grew exacting and even dangerous. The letters gave to her lover a 持つ／拘留する over her. He could answer 脅し with 脅し.

"One 味方する of the correspondence—his," Hanaud continued, "had been destroyed. He was sure of Evelyn's 忠義. No written page of his could be brought out of the ashes to 罪人／有罪を宣告する him. He was in a position to say, 'I didn't answer that,' or 'I was careful to make no suggestion,' or 'All my letters were ーするつもりであるd to bring Evelyn into a reasonable でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる of mind.' On the other 手渡す, he was in a position to say to her at any moment —and the moment was coming—'I have done with you, and you will kindly keep as 静かな as a mouse, or I 原因（となる） you aggravations and inconveniences.'"

"But after Evelyn Devenish was dead," Mr. Ricardo exclaimed, "the letters had lost their value. Also, it seems, they were dangerous to him. He would have destroyed them on that night when Evelyn Devenish died."

"On that night, as you will see," Hanaud replied, "the good コマドリ Webster was very busy. The morning 設立する him still at his 労働s. Had it not been very necessary that he should 持つ／拘留する a little 委員会 会合 at the Ch穰eau Mirandol with our dear Vicomte and that ambitious young 裁判官, those letters would have been little grey flakes before we ever cast our 注目する，もくろむs on them."

Hanaud opened the leather 大臣の地位 which he had laid upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and took out a copy of the photographed letters.

"Look at this passage," he said, and he pointed to the beginning of one of them. It had been written at Biarritz when コマドリ Webster had returned to his 義務s at Suvlac. "Ah, the poor woman! One who loves and one who is loved. The eternal story." Mr. Ricardo read;—

"Dearest,

"I shut my 注目する，もくろむs. I won't see—yet how can I not see? Whenever I have finished a letter to you, I begin another. I notice all the little things that happen, and 精査する them out into things which may amuse you, and things which won't. And every little thing which will, I 令状 負かす／撃墜する at once, whether it is a 調書をとる／予約する I am reading or some queer-looking stranger who comes into the restaurant, or some funny story, so that in two days I have a 広大な／多数の／重要な long letter written to you. And all yours begin 'Darling, since the 地位，任命する is going out in half an hour I am 令状ing a line to you in haste'—"

Hanaud turned over a page or two and （機の）カム to the last of them, a dozen in all. Passages in them were ひどく を強調するd with a blue pencil.

"Read them in their order," said Hanaud; and Mr. Ricardo took the letters upon his 膝.

CHAPTER 25. — EVELYN DEVENISH'S LETTERS

IN the first of the 示すd passages, Evelyn Devenish, 令状ing from Biarritz to Suvlac, reluctantly agreed to a marriage between Diana Tasborough and コマドリ Webster. "Of course she's in love with you. She has already sent Bryce Carter about his 商売／仕事. She can't talk for five minutes without bringing you in—I いつかs wish that you were disfigured and rather horribly, so that no one in the world except myself would willingly look at you—Oh, I'd （不足などを）補う for them! But we are as poor as ネズミs, and nothing's any good without money."

Once he was married to Diana, there would be money to 燃やす —for both of them. There was to be but the most momentary of 中断s in their own 関係. A whole code of 行為／行う was laid 負かす／撃墜する for him, and very authoritatively. Diana was to become a ごくわずかの apanage, a 解雇（する） of money. If she 苦しむd —井戸／弁護士席, all the better.

Already there were allusions to the 儀式s of the 会議／協議会 room. She herself had embraced the 約束 with the fervour of a Madame de Montespan. She would keep her lover by the Devil's 儀式s, and at the same time 減ずる Diana to the abject position of a Mormon's wife. Diana was to be 始めるd into those mysteries. She was to be 刺激するd by subtle 控訴，上告s to her curiosity, her love of excitement. She was to be 説得するd that she had committed the 許すことの出来ない sin. 悔恨 and the 恐れる of スキャンダル would turn her into a puppet.

Other letters, some written whilst Evelyn Devenish was away in Bordeaux, some even when she and コマドリ Webster were under the same roof and Marianne was used to carry them, 述べるd the 漸進的な 進歩 of the 陰謀（を企てる）. Diana hesitated, was afire now, terrified at another time. She stood at the 辛勝する／優位 of a sea, 投機・賭けるing a foot in and 身を引くing it to the warmth of the solid sand, thrilled and tormented. Of Evelyn she had no 疑惑. "He loves me, I know," she said to her. "Whatever he has done in the past, or whomever he has been friendly with, doesn't 事柄 at all. And what he wishes—even that!—yes, yes."

Hanaud laid a 幅の広い 手渡す upon the typed copies. "So you see the position of 事件／事情／状勢s. Both of these young women in love with コマドリ Webster, and both of them fooled by him. Evelyn Devenish will let him marry Diana Tasborough, so long as she keeps him for herself. 一方／合間 he keeps her letters. Diana is 確かな that he loves her, and if he worships the Devil—井戸／弁護士席, so will she. And he? コマドリ Webster? He cares not a snap of the fingers for looked with a curious smile at Mr. Ricardo. "Did you know that one of the Devil's 指名するs was コマドリ? Yes. That, too, I learnt at the Archiepiscopal Palace in 飛び込み into some old 調書をとる／予約するs. コマドリ Abiron, コマドリ this and コマドリ that—Satan himself, eh?" and with another ちらりと見ること he nodded his 長，率いる 厳粛に. "Yes, I, too, wonder"; and then with a burst of 暴力／激しさ: "If you and I, who after all have lived in the world, and 生き延びるd our 青年 and all its romance—if you and I draw in our breath with a shiver and say, 'I wonder,' is it strange that these girls, their emotions stirred, their 神経s frayed, should say instead, I believe'? Look at this!"

He turned 支援する a couple of sheets and showed to Mr. Ricardo a passage which had not been 強調するd.

"Remember that Diana Tasborough, who had befriended Evelyn Devenish, was 存在 played by her like a fish on a hook. To what sort of passion must Evelyn Devenish have been wrought, before she could 令状 this of her friend," and Mr. Ricardo read:

What do I want her to be? I 港／避難所't the slightest difficulty. The dog that runs about after its master with its leash in its mouth. I have never discovered a better image of humiliation than that.

Mr. Ricardo gasped, as he read the contemptuous prophecy; and it was with a shock of 救済 that he realized that this could never be 実行するd.

"That's the position, then," said Hanaud, "when Joyce Whipple, 乱すd by the letters she had received from Diana, puts off that 緊急の return of hers to America, and 招待するs herself to the Ch穰eau Suvlac. Inexplicable the queer 見通しs which Diana's commonplace letters 始める，決める passing so vividly before Joyce Whipple's 注目する，もくろむs. Eh? Yes, inexplicable—unless you are inclined to believe that at times the other hidden things outside," and with a 広大な／多数の／重要な sweep of his arm he 示唆するd the curve of a firmament which was a 刑務所，拘置所 ドーム, "outside this world, break through to punish or to save."

"Save?" cried Mr. Ricardo, who could not imagine how Diana Tasborough was to be saved from an explicit 責任／義務 in the 殺人 of Evelyn Devenish.

"Yes, saved," continued Hanaud 堅固に. "That you will see. But first, see how the coming of Joyce Whipple upsets the carriage of the pears!"

"The apple-cart," said Mr. Ricardo resignedly.

"If you like it that way, I make the 譲歩," Hanaud returned amiably. "Read!" and he placed a 幅の広い finger-end upon a 宣告，判決, so that Mr. Ricardo had to 押し進める it away before he could read at all.

You 星／主役にする at her, like a schoolboy at a girl with a plait 負かす／撃墜する her 支援する. You are troubled when she speaks to you. You jump when she comes 近づく you. You look—silly—yes, silly, コマドリ!

And again, a little さらに先に on:

She's not even pretty really. And she's certainly nothing else. She's green, コマドリ, a little green thing for a little green boy. Oh, if I thought you were serious!

There it was. コマドリ Webster had met his 運命／宿命, as people said at the beginning of the nineteenth century. At the first sight of Joyce Whipple the 解雇する／砲火／射撃s which he was accustomed to 奮起させる 掴むd upon and held him. He must give now, he who had only taken. Her image was impressed upon the retinas of his 注目する，もくろむs so that everywhere he must see her. He could not hide his passion and he did not want to. It was a glory to him of which he wished all the world to know.

"Your 指名する upon my forehead and my brow."

He shut his mind away from the whispers of prudence, and was blind to the spectacle of jealousy. Diana, indeed, moving with the 包帯 of her dreams across her 注目する，もくろむs, remained undisturbed. She was no more aware of the new and enormous change in the disposition of the 世帯 than of her companion's petulance. But Evelyn Devenish was of another mould. 告訴，告発s, reproaches, 脅しs, 補欠／交替の／交替するd with violent 控訴，上告s. Finally the 脅しs became one 脅し, the 控訴，上告s one 需要・要求する. She wrote:

It's intolerable. I don't want to 脅す but you have got to do what I want. My necklace has gone and you know where and why. You won't find it difficult to arrange. I don't believe for a moment that she's going to America. She's 秘かに調査するing. I am sure of it. I have watched her listening. She means to use her 旅行 to America as an excuse to get away when she has 設立する out what she wants, and then she's going to make all the trouble she can to save Diana. I am sure of it. But you can use the 旅行 to America as an excuse. She is going from Bordeaux to Cherbourg, she says. You can 運動 her into Bordeaux the night before she goes. She hasn't any friends there to see her off. You must 直す／買収する，八百長をする it up or I'll do what she's meaning to do. Yes, I will. The whole story—the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり, our 計画（する） 関心ing Diana— yes, I'd rather pull the whole neighbourhood 負かす／撃墜する with a 衝突，墜落 and go 負かす／撃墜する with it myself than 許す things to go on as they are going. Do you know I went to the 洞穴 of the Mummies today? You remember that boy? I dream of that—just that for her! It would serve her 権利 for 干渉するing—for throwing herself at you. You needn't think she cares for you. You don't mean the least little thing to her. We shall all be at Mirandol on Wednesday night. You can arrange the little that is left to be arranged there, and then on Thursday—she can go with you to Bordeaux.

This was the last 抽出する to which Hanaud called Mr. Ricardo's attention. He took 支援する the copies of the letters and, 取って代わるing them in his 大臣の地位, locked it.

"So there's the history of this 罪，犯罪 up to the point where Joyce Whipple begins her story," he said. "Evelyn Devenish 需要・要求するing the 殺人 of Joyce Whipple under the 脅し of a 完全にする （危険などに）さらす; Diana Tasborough in a maze of 恐れる and excitement; コマドリ Webster at his wits' ends, 願望（する）ing Joyce as he had never 願望（する）d anyone, and solving his 窮地 as he thought by one swift blow which would 巻き込む everyone, you understand —Diana, the 裁判官, Cassandre de Mirandol. Not one would be able to 解除する a finger against him. Not one but must conspire to bury that 罪，犯罪 amongst the mysteries which have baffled the police. Yes, and he would have 後継するd—but for the audacity and the devotion of your little friend, Joyce Whipple."

He stood up as he ended his speech and reached for his hat. Mr. Ricardo, however, did not move. He looked about the room rather sadly.

"I am sorry," he said. "I had a hope that Diana, somehow, would be 設立する やめる outside the 罪，犯罪. But since she was here upon that night—here in this room all 燃えて with light—" He did not finish the 宣告，判決. But, in his turn, he stood up and took one last look about the room. His 注目する，もくろむs met the 注目する，もくろむs of the image upon the 塀で囲む, and now could 会合，会う them. Hanaud's 手渡す fell upon his shoulder.

"I shall put your mind at 緩和する," he said 厳粛に. "Diana Tasborough was not here upon that night. It was I who told her of the 殺人 of Evelyn Devenish. Let us go!"

He locked the door of the 会議／協議会 room behind him and 手渡すd the 重要な to the sergeant in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金.

26. — M TO O INCLUSIVE

ON the に引き続いて evening four people sat 負かす／撃墜する to dinner at the corner （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する by the window in the restaurant of the Faisan d'Or—Julius Ricardo and Hanaud in 議長，司会を務めるs upon one 味方する, Joyce Whipple and Bryce Carter upon the cushioned （法廷の）裁判 against the 塀で囲む. The days were の近くにing in. Already the lights were beginning to twinkle through the leaves of the lime trees in the Place des Quinconces. Mr. Ricardo could not but remember that other evening of suspense, so 最近の in fact, so immeasurably distant 裁判官d by events, when his モーター-car had waited on the other 味方する of the roadway and Hanaud had sat with his 支援する against the 塀で囲む smoking cigar after cigar and Joyce Whipple's life had hung upon a thread. Now she sat in that same place, her delicate 直面する still 影をつくる／尾行するd by the ordeal of terror through which she had passed, her old look of competence 取って代わるd by a tender wistfulness. She was as spruce and 削減する as ever in her 控訴 of chestnut brown marocain, but her 広大な／多数の／重要な haunting 注目する，もくろむs turned continually to the lover at her 味方する, and every now and then her 手渡す would 残り／休憩（する） upon his arm, as though to 保証する herself of his neighbourhood. A tall vase of flowers had been idiotically placed upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する after the fashion of restaurants, so that no one could see his or her opposite number without cricking his neck. But by a 全員一致の 投票（する） the 障害 was 除去するd.

"Now!" said Mr. Ricardo, all in a twitter; and the 影をつくる／尾行する 深くするd upon the lovely 直面する over against him.

"Now we dine," Bryce Carter 再結合させるd quickly. "It is a solemn moment. Without dinner, there is no life. We begin with caviare. That is as it should be. We are now upon the banks of the Volga. We listen to the far-famed song of its boat—We wear blouses and 頂点（に達する）d caps and we dance very uncomfortably in 最高の，を越す boots. But all that passes. For we proceed to 海がめ soup. We are dining now with the Aldermen, and the Lord 市長, and Mr. Recorder at the New York.' Good! Let us catch the matchless words and the exquisite modest 発言する／表明する: 'All the men follow me, when I go out for a walk.' What follows? A partridge. Good! I am behind a hedge and over the hedge a field of turnips, in which there is no 調印する of life. In the far distance a line of men 武装した with white 旗s. I hear a whistle. I say to myself: 'Take them as they come. Shoot 井戸／弁護士席 ahead!' I hear a multitude of wings （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing the 空気／公表する. There are partridges on the ground before every butt except 地雷. I say to myself: 'にもかかわらず I shall be given two partridges to send home to my wife, who, poor creature, in her blind devotion to her husband will say, "Bryce 発射 these!" and will have them stuffed and 機動力のある in a glass 事例／患者.'"

Joyce Whipple laughed.

"If I know anything about that young woman," she said, "she will, on the contrary, 観察する: 'Such wonderful birds can only be a 現在の from my friend, Monsieur Hanaud.'"

Hanaud with a beaming 直面する waved a 手渡す under Mr. Ricardo's nose.

"That is how the persons as one wants them, talk. They do not make the difficulties about the idioms. No! They do not look the offence if I give a tiny order to their chauffeur. They do not search all I say for the bad taste like a customs officer looking for the silk stockings. Gorblimey, no! They say 'Hanaud,' so," and he wagged his 長，率いる and kissed the tips of his fingers, fatuous as a second-率 tenor of grand オペラ.

In a word, Bryce Carter and Hanaud between them saw to it that Joyce should eat her dinner with nothing to 苦しめる her beyond the puerility of their facetiousness. But when the crumbs were 小衝突d from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and their coffee smoked in 前線 of them and 不明瞭 had やめる fallen upon the roadway outside, she began of her own （許可，名誉などを）与える.

"I shall tell you what happened to me," she said, "for even Bryce, who 飛行機で行くs 支援する to London on any excuse of 商売／仕事, has not heard the story in 詳細（に述べる）—from the date of my arrival at the Ch穰eau Suvlac. But I understand that a phrase I once used has 原因（となる）d Mr. Ricardo"—and she smiled very pleasantly at him across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する—"a good 取引，協定 of perplexity. 'Cinderella must be home by midnight.' That was the 宣告，判決, wasn't it? It surprised him, because two American girls let loose on Europe must によれば all traditions be multi-millionaires. But my sister and I have never had millions of money. Three years ago, indeed, we couldn't have 捨てるd up enough between us to buy a baby Austin. We were both 雇うd in a big library at Washington; and though we had 相続するd a tiny 所有物／資産／財産 at San Diego, in California, it just kept us decently dressed. We were work-girls. There was a 長，率いる librarian, an assistant, and six girls under them who divided up the alphabet."

Two points of importance to Joyce Whipple's narrative were to be borne in mind by her audience. Firstly, the letters of the alphabet for which she was responsible were M to O inclusive. She had to 所有する, and did 所有する, a working knowledge of the 支配するs which fell within those letters. Secondly, Professor Henry Brewer, of the Pharmacological 研究室／実験室 at 物陰／風下d, （機の）カム out to Washington whilst she was 雇うd at the library, to serve upon an International （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 for the 鎮圧 of the あへん traffic. His 義務s took him frequently to the library, and since あへん was his 支配する, to the particular department in the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of Joyce Whipple. The pair became friends, and when Brewer returned home he left behind him a warm 招待 to the two girls to make every use of him should they ever come to England.

"Soon after Professor Brewer went away," Joyce continued, "oil was 設立する upon our little 広い地所 and a 井戸／弁護士席 was sunk. My sister and I became—I don't say rich as riches are understood today—but very comfortably off. So making up our minds to see something of the world, we gave up our positions and crossed to Europe. But a year ago the 井戸／弁護士席 went 乾燥した，日照りの. My sister was on the point of marrying and returning to the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs. I had to （不足などを）補う my mind what I should do. Our 初めの 計画（する） had been to spend two years on this 味方する of the 大西洋, and I had still money enough in 手渡す to 完全にする the programme. Of course, if I had been a really good girl," she said with a 泡 of laughter, "I should have gone straight 支援する too, and saved what I had left. But I wasn't going to. I meant to have my fling whilst I was young enough to get every ounce of fun and enjoyment out of it. Afterwards I would go 支援する to M to O. I was going 支援する this summer. The library was taking me on again. That's what I meant when I said to Mr. Ricardo: 'Cinderellas must be home before midnight.' Midnight for me was on the point of striking. But I was more and more troubled about Diana, and I got leave from Washington to put off my return for another month."

She shivered as she thought upon the terrible days which that month had 含むd, and then her 注目する，もくろむs turned to Bryce Carter and she smiled.

"Yes," said Mr. Ricardo sententiously. "It is very true. The darkest hour comes before the 夜明け."

Bryce Carter 星／主役にするd across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, sure that somehow his ears had misled him. But not a bit of it. Mr. Ricardo sat benevolent, complacent. He had 解釈する／通訳するd in one concise allusion both Joyce Whipple's shiver and her smile. And time and again during the 残り／休憩（する） of that evening Bryce Carter's 注目する，もくろむs 熱望して sought his fellow—同国人's 直面する in the hope of another and as 満足させるing an imbecility.

"I reached the Ch穰eau Suvlac a fortnight before you," Joyce 再開するd. "I had 招待するd myself by 電報電信, and when Jules Amad馥 led me out on to the terrace in the afternoon I 設立する, besides Diana, Evelyn Devenish, Monsieur de Mirandol and コマドリ Webster 組み立てる／集結するd about the tea-tray. It was obvious after a very few minutes that they were there to give me the once-over—I mean," she explained to Hanaud, "to 検査／視察する me."

"The once-over is better," returned Hanaud. "It is a phrase of the 流行の／上流のs in New York. Yes. From the Bowery? Yes. Good, I use him."

Both Bryce Carter and Joyce Whipple had moved a good 取引，協定 in Hanaud's society during the last week or two, and just 受託するd in 感謝する silence his 約束 to use their idiom, without discussing the 居住の ４半期/4分の1 of the 流行の／上流のs of New York.

"It will be perhaps better to 許す Joyce to tell her story without interruption," Mr. Ricardo 示唆するd coldly, and Hanaud 屈服するd his 長，率いる.

"For the 未来," he said, and he had 明確に enjoyed some その上の conversation with Mr. Ricardo's chauffeur, "I 持つ／拘留する my blinking tongue."

"That is 十分な," said Mr. Ricardo. "Joyce, proceed!"

And Joyce proceeded.

"I was a 騒動, you see. Diana was nervous, with lapses into dreams. I was all at once a stranger to her. With Evelyn and Monsieur de Mirandol I was at once 人気がない. On the other 手渡す, コマドリ Webster showed me a good 取引，協定 of attention. I had the misfortune to come over at him from the first," and under Mr. Ricardo's 冷淡な 注目する，もくろむ Hanaud repressed himself with extreme difficulty. "That 関係 continued through the evening. Two young men from the neighbourhood dined at the ch穰eau, and we danced afterwards upon the terrace to the gramophone until eleven o'clock. コマドリ Webster was troublesome, for I really didn't want to dance with him, though he danced very 井戸／弁護士席. And as often as I did, I could see Evelyn Devenish glowering at me. Once, indeed, when she was やめる の近くに to コマドリ Webster and myself, she 辞退するd brusquely an 招待 to dance and, raising her 発言する／表明する, so that コマドリ Webster could hear, said: 'It is hot. I shall stroll 負かす／撃墜する to the river.'

"She went 負かす／撃墜する the steps, waited without turning her 長，率いる, and then wandered alone across the lawn. コマドリ Webster took no notice whatever. His 直面する was smooth as a mask. Diana, in the library, put on a new 記録，記録的な／記録する and 始める，決める it spinning.

"'You must leave me,' I said to コマドリ Webster. 'I am not here to make trouble. Please go!' and I nodded to where Evelyn's white dress shimmered against the dark grass. Webster's 注目する，もくろむs followed 地雷. I have never seen a 直面する so harden into contempt as his did at that moment.

"'She doesn't know the difference between 存在 a man's master and a man's mistress, and she has got to learn,' he said. I recoiled from him, and at once his whole 表現 changed. He became piteous, 控訴，上告ing. 'You think that hateful! I am overtried. The last thing in the world I want to do is to make you hate me,' and his 注目する，もくろむs slid over me from my 長，率いる to my shoes —oh, odiously! He was making an 在庫 of me and my 着せる／賦与するs. He said with a sudden passion which took me aback: 'You have only to say the word, and I'll give up this dance and go 負かす／撃墜する there to Evelyn.'

"But I wasn't going to 宙返り／暴落する into that 罠（にかける）. If I did say the word, I—how shall I put it?—I 設立するd a 関係, I almost put myself under an 義務. He could come to me and 嘆願d: 'The moment you told me to sacrifice myself, I did it. Now, when I ask the tiniest little thing, you turn me 負かす／撃墜する.' No, nothing of that for Joyce Whipple. I answered quickly: 'I 港／避難所't the slightest 意向 to 干渉する, and you have danced too often with me as it is. I hate 存在 目だつ. Good night!'

"I turned away to Diana and told her that I was tired and was going to bed. Diana looked at me for a moment, as though she was not やめる sure who I was and what I was doing there. Then she waked up.

"'I'll go up with you and see that you've got everything, Joyce,' she said. 'I am delighted you could spare the time to 支払う／賃金 me a visit here.'

"She slipped her arm through 地雷, and コマドリ Webster, who was at my 肘, afraid no 疑問 lest I should give him away, had the 神経 to ask—oh I in the melting 発言する／表明する of a musical-comedy lover: 'But you'll come 支援する! I'll wait for you here. This is a wonderful waltz. Strauss wrote it for you and me!'

"Diana hurried me up to my room, barely ちらりと見ることd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する it, and said, 'Yes, I see you have everything,' and the next moment I heard her running 負かす／撃墜する the stairs.

"Now, I really was tired, and 存在 a healthy young woman I should 自然に have slept from the moment when I got into bed until Marianne trotted in with my coffee. But, you see, I had come out to the Ch穰eau Suvlac with a particular 反対する, and my uneasiness was not at all relieved by what I had seen that evening. On the contrary. Diana was so unlike the Diana I used to know that I was alarmed. I thought Monsieur de Mirandol やめる impossible and コマドリ Webster やめる intolerable. I had a feeling, too, though, of course, I might have brought that with me, that something was 存在 planned against Diana and that my presence 干渉するd with the 計画（する）.

"I must have fallen asleep whilst I was worrying over these problems, but so restlessly that a mere murmur of 発言する／表明するs underneath my window was 十分な to wake me up. The moon had now risen and my room was so 有望な that I could read my watch without turning on the lamp. The time was a few minutes past midnight. The gramophone had stopped. I heard no sound indeed at all but these 発言する／表明するs whispering and murmuring upon the terrace, and an 時折の quick 'H'sh! H'sh!' when one of them rose upon a higher 公式文書，認める. Then my 指名する was uttered. 'She is staying for a fortnight. She goes straight from here to America.'

"I could not mistake the thin, high 発言する／表明する of Monsieur de Mirandol any more than the 正確な articulation of コマドリ Webster, who replied to the 発言／述べる.

"'She will be out of the way. Diana arranged that she should have the upper room on 目的,' and quickly upon that （機の）カム the 'Hush! Hush!' of the third 発言する／表明する.

"I sat up in my bed then. I should be out of the way. Out of the way of what? I listened with both my ears, I can tell you. But the 発言する／表明するs sank again, and only the intermittent 'Hush! Hush!' reached me intelligibly.

"Good manners or bad manners, I could stand no more of it. I slipped out of bed and はうd on my 手渡すs and 膝s to the window. I raised my 長，率いる very, very carefully and looked 負かす／撃墜する on to the terrace. Three people were standing at the 辛勝する／優位 of the terrace in the moonlight, not 正確に／まさに under my window, but a little to the 権利, opposite to the window of the 製図／抽選-room. They were Monsieur de Mirandol, コマドリ Webster and Evelyn Devenish. Although the gramophone had 中止するd, the 製図／抽選-room was still alight, and Evelyn Devenish was keeping a watchful 注目する，もくろむ upon its open door. She stood sentinel, as it were, with her 支援する to the garden, and it was she who continually broke in with her hissed 警告. She was not 関心d with my window at all. Someone in the 製図／抽選-room was now approaching, now retiring, from the glass door. I, no 疑問, was comfortably supposed to be 急速な／放蕩な asleep.

"I heard a day 指名するd and then another. 'Wednesday or Friday, of course,' said コマドリ Webster. 'The sooner the better.'

"'Wednesday week, then,' Monsieur de Mirandol answered. 'It will take a little time to let the 権利 people know. I can have all ready by then.'

"But there was a 公式文書，認める of hesitation in his 発言する／表明する. It became evident to me that Monsieur de Mirandol was alarmed. The 事件／事情／状勢, whatever it was, was becoming trop r駱andu altogether. There was danger. People who knew of it, really knew of it, so that it was impossible to 持続する any 否定, could 主張する upon coming, and for their own ends. He reproached Evelyn Devenish. She had spoken carelessly over there in Bordeaux, and some woman who was 'affreuse' had 簡単に いじめ（る）d her way in. Evelyn defended herself. I heard the 指名する Corisot, and Monsieur de Mirandol shrugged his shoulders like a man who knows the world, and said やめる 明確に—it was strange how that high, 麻薬を吸うing 発言する／表明する carried—'Oh, Jeanne Corisot! I don't say no! A different 事柄. But the old woman!' And a phrase struck my ears and tingled.

"'But since everyone is masked', argued Evelyn. 'Except me,' said コマドリ Webster. 'And, since it is my house which is used, me,' continued Monsieur de Mirandol; and すぐに the 'Hush! Hush!' （機の）カム more insistently than ever.

"'She is coming.' Evelyn Devenish said. 'Then I'm off quick,' said コマドリ Webster. What gave me the idea that he jumped at this excuse for getting away? 'Good night,' he said hurriedly, and as he turned away along the terrace に向かって the grove of trees and his house, an illuminating 宣告，判決 was uttered. I might have listened to hints and allusions for a hundred years and never got 近づく the truth. Now it 炎上d—blinding, horrible, so that I cowered 負かす／撃墜する upon the 床に打ち倒す in the cover of the 塀で囲む.

"'Good night, my friend Guibourg,' Monsieur de Mirandol said with a 麻薬を吸うing laugh. コマドリ Webster laughed 静かに, turning 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in the moonlight a 直面する grown suddenly sly, and more 緊急の than ever followed Evelyn Devenish's 抗議する. This time it ran— 'Oh, please, silence!' she whispered; and for the first time during that whispered conversation she turned an 注目する，もくろむ 上向きs to my window. It was then that I dipped for safety, praying that she had not seen me. I 慰安d myself with the thought that even if she had she would be 確信して that I could make nothing of de Mirandol's allusion.

"She did not know that I had served in a 広大な／多数の／重要な library, and that my letters were M to O inclusive. 'O' 含む／封じ込めるs 'Occult,' and de Mirandol had 規定するd for one of those two days of the week, and those two days were the days 始める，決める aside for those unholy 儀式s. I had got to the heart of Diana's secret now, of her obsession, her 無関心／冷淡—yes, and of my forebodings too. In spite of herself, through the trivial phrases of her letters to me something had broken from another world—the world on the 辛勝する／優位 of which her soul stood shivering.

"I 解除するd my 長，率いる again very carefully. I saw that Diana had joined Monsieur de Mirandol and Evelyn, and that コマドリ Webster had 消えるd amongst the trees. The three who remained talked 率直に now. In a few minutes they returned into the house. I heard the glass door の近くに; I saw the yellow light disappear from the 製図／抽選-room and the 床に打ち倒す of the terrace. The house and its garden were given over to the moonlight. Only between the dark boughs of the avenue a beam shone from the upper window of コマドリ Webster's chalet."

Joyce Whipple omitted from her story the ordinary 探検隊／遠征隊s and amusements which 占領するd the days and evenings of the small party at the Ch穰eau Suvlac. She kept to the 出来事/事件s 親族 to herself. She was sent to Coventry by Evelyn Devenish and Monsieur de Mirandol, who was never out of the house. She 設立する game of whist at the Ch穰eau Suvlac. As for Diana, she walked apart with the 包帯 of her dreams across her 注目する，もくろむs. Even the service of her house became indifferent to her, the small attentions to her guests neglected, and thus やめる 自然に Joyce slid into the habit of 準備するing the cocktails, and the nightcaps before the party separated of an evening.

On the third night of Joyce's visit two little 出来事/事件s occurred which were of importance. She had danced, reluctantly, with コマドリ Webster, and he had guided her to the end of the terrace away from the others. Suddenly he stopped.

"I can't go on like this," he said in a 発言する／表明する of fever. "You must come 負かす／撃墜する into the garden and talk to me. It's horrible what I am going through"; and he held her off from him, and again his 注目する，もくろむs slid over her greedily from her 長，率いる to her shoes, so that she felt herself dishonoured. She wrenched her 手渡すs away and said 簡単に, "I'll come," and turning at his 味方する, went 負かす／撃墜する with him into the garden.

"It was hateful," Joyce said, "but I was afraid he would make some sort of 反乱ing scene 公然と, and that I should have to go away from Suvlac in consequence. We walked across the lawn to the hedge which separates the garden from the （土地などの）細長い一片 of 湿地帯 by the river, and then I turned to him.

"'You see, I can't hide any more,' he began at once, his mouth trembling, and his words 追いつくing one another. 'Up till now it has always been 平易な—amusing, too—to keep different things going—if you understand me—' I had no difficulty at all in understanding him. The amazing feature of him was his frankness, considering what his 反対する was —I mean myself. It never seemed to occur to him at all that I might perhaps believe in another 支配する under M to O inclusive—monogamy.

"'Now I find it very difficult,' he continued. 'I can't trouble about concealments—I don't want them either —I want you—and you—and you—and all the world to see it. Joyce! I walk up and 負かす／撃墜する my room half the night repeating it. Joyce! Joyce! I have thought that no one could want anyone else so—so 圧倒的に, without that other one 存在 軍隊d to come. I have 推定する／予想するd to hear your step upon the gravel—to see the door open and you with your 注目する，もくろむs 十分な of wonder and soft light in the doorway. I knew all the time that I was a fool—that the way with women was to keep your 長，率いる and only seem to lose it. But I can't help myself. I am like the man in hell. I want my drink of water beyond anything in the world—you, Joyce, you!' and his 手渡すs reached out to me shaking, and drew 支援する and reached out again.

"I was in trouble too. I didn't dare to giggle because I was in the presence of a predatory animal. My whole 反対する was to 妨げる a 危機 for as long as I could—until after Wednesday week, at all events. I babbled a few 発言／述べるs inanely. 'I have never had anything like this happen to me. I have never before been told that I was one of a number, even if for the moment the 最高の，を越す one,' and luckily at that moment Evelyn Devenish ran 負かす／撃墜する the steps of the terrace and across the green に向かって us. It was コマドリ Webster's turn to say 'Hush! Hush!' now. I made my escape at once and, a little more shaken than I had believed myself to be, I slipped into the 製図／抽選-room, which was empty.

"I sat there for a few moments watching the couples dancing outside, and then Diana joined me. She sat 負かす／撃墜する beside me with an embarrassed smile, and began at once to talk to me 速く.

"'I am going to tell you something, Joyce. I 港／避難所't told it to any of my friends yet. So you must keep it a secret for the moment. I don't mean to have people advising and 干渉するing in what isn't any 関心 of theirs. They probably won't know at all until it is done. I am going to marry コマドリ Webster.'

"I was really startled by her 告示, and no 疑問 my 直面する showed it. For she continued quickly: 'You're astonished, but you don't know him. He's wonderful, really wonderful.'

"'But—but—' I 抗議するd a little confusedly, 'are you sure that—I mean that you are rich and he —after all, he seems to have friends already, doesn't he?'

"I wasn't very tactful, but I was so 圧倒するd that I couldn't stop to phrase things very decently. Diana, however, wasn't 感情を害する／違反するd at all. She took my 抗議する with the 最大の calmness.

"'I know what you mean,' she answered. 'He is a good を取り引きする Evelyn Devenish. But he loves me.' It is impossible to give you any idea of the simple, serious fatuity with which she spoke. I felt that no 証拠 would shake her at all. 'Since you （機の）カム, Joyce, he has been showing you some attention too. He is just setting up so many 審査するs to 妨げる anyone guessing until we want them to.'

"'But when are you going to be married?' I gasped.

"'Next month,' she answered; and then the most curious look, half pride, half 恐れる, shone upon her 直面する. 'I can't tell you everything. But we are 始める，決める apart, he and I and a few other people. It's the most terrific secret. I was 脅すd at first —perhaps I still am a little. But one's carried away —one wouldn't go 支援する if one could. It's a belief— no 疑問 people who didn't understand would take us out and 石／投石する us—but there are many, many, many of us, not only here —in Paris, in Italy. And people who are 権利 are always' —she sought for a word—'punished, aren't they? It's the oldest thing in the world, too—it's 反乱 and passion instead of renunciation, and a world scarlet and vivid instead of grey and 冷淡な.'

"Her 直面する was transfigured. She spoke in a low 発言する／表明する hoarse with emotion, her features quivering, her breast rising and 落ちるing as though she had run a race, and her 手渡すs 選ぶing at her frock. In that 静かな room, looking across the garden to the 静かな, 向こうずねing river, with the gramophone in the library winding out its commonplace foxtrot, she sat, a 充てる who had whirled herself into a frenzy of exaltation. And then suddenly she clapped her 手渡すs to her 注目する，もくろむs and burst into a 激流 of 涙／ほころびs.

"'Oh, I am afraid—I am afraid—' she cried in a 発言する／表明する suddenly desolate and hopeless; and before I could utter a word she had risen and 急ぐd from the room.

"I sat on, with a gleam of hope in my mind. De Mirandol and Evelyn Devenish—I 始める，決める them aside as really sincere. That devil-worship still 存在するd here and there in the world of 製図／抽選-rooms as vigorously as in the world of ジャングルs and wide forests, I knew very 井戸／弁護士席. And both de Mirandol, the disappointed degenerate, and Evelyn Devenish, the neurotic creature of her sex, were 示すd out for it. But コマドリ Webster was different. He was just the cunning manipulator who saw in it a 武器 and an 適切な時期. He could marry Diana Tasborough. Yes, but he 手配中の，お尋ね者 a serf, not a wife. Believing in him as the High Priest of Satan, she was malleable as sculptor's clay. The one hope I had of 反対するing his 罰金 計画（する）s lay in Diana's sudden 嵐／襲撃する of 涙／ほころびs and the words which had followed it. She was afraid. Therefore she could be 救助（する）d. But how? I was still considering that question when the door into the 回廊（地帯） was opened and Evelyn Devenish （機の）カム in. She walked straight across the room to me with a 直面する very white and 始める，決める.

"'I met Diana in 涙／ほころびs just outside this room. What have you said to her?' she 需要・要求するd; and I replied:

"'Mind your own 商売／仕事!'

"'I am going to,' she said, and nodding at me with a strange look in her 注目する，もくろむs, she went out on to the terrace."

At this point Joyce asked for more coffee, and not until she had drunk it and lighted a cigarette, was she willing to 再開する her narrative.

CHAPTER 27. — THE INSPIRATION FROM THE MASK

BUT even then Hanaud must 干渉する. "Let us make everything plain as the bedpost," he said with a sweep of his 手渡す. "I put the questions."

"Yes?" Joyce replied, leaning に向かって him with a little frown of 集中 upon her 直面する.

There were difficulties in her story which she was 井戸／弁護士席 aware she could not answer. Why some men, for instance, of the stamp which other men detest evoke the blindest love in women. And why the adoration of idols and 誤った gods is eternal. And why what is clean and of good repute is put aside for what is foul. She had no explanations to 申し込む／申し出. She could only say: "Here at Suvlac these things were so, as they are so どこかよそで." But no such baffling problems were 現在のd to her by Hanaud.

"When you come out for the first time on to the terrace at the Ch穰eau, you see de Mirandol and Madame Devenish?"

"Yes."

"And they give you the once-over?"

"Yes."

"And that evening—with コマドリ Webster—you come over at him at once?"

Joyce blushed and answered rather shyly: "I'm afraid that I did."

"I would not 苦しめる you," said Hanaud apologetically. "I get the facts 直す／買収する，八百長をするd in my mind. Now, as Mr. Ricardo would say, pray proceed."

But Mr. Ricardo with some indignation raised a 抗議するing 発言する／表明する. "Certainly, Joyce, you shall not let them 苦しめる you. He was not getting the facts 直す／買収する，八百長をするd in his mind. He has had them there for many a day. No, he was getting the phrases 直す／買収する，八百長をするd in his mind, and I can 約束 you, in 復讐, that he will use them proudly on the most 不適切な occasions."

Hanaud waved an indulgent 手渡す. "井戸／弁護士席, 井戸／弁護士席, such phrases are commodious. Pray, Mademoiselle Whipple, proceed!"

And she took up her story again. Her problem was how to 救助（する） Diana from that unholy ギャング（団）, in spite of herself; how to 分散させる them and send them to hide their 直面するs and their 指名するs in the by-ways of the earth; and how to do it without 伴う／関わるing her in a 廃虚 of スキャンダル and 不名誉.

"I 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd about all night, and when the morning 夜明けd I was no nearer to a 解答," she said. "But I had reached one 有罪の判決. I must myself know all that was to take place on the Wednesday week in the house of Monsieur de Mirandol. I had certainty in myself, but 非，不，無 for anyone to whom I might tell the story. I must have every circumstance of the 儀式 so exact that no one could 疑問 I spoke the truth. In a word I must be 現在の in the house of Monsieur de Mirandol, I must be an 注目する，もくろむ-証言，証人／目撃する, and more, I must have some 証拠 to 証明する who out of the Ch穰eau Suvlac took a part in those orgies of horror. Oh, I knew very 井戸／弁護士席 that my 計画（する） was dangerous—I mean dangerous for me. But I thought that if I could once 安全な・保証する my 証拠, then perhaps from a distance, when I was 安全な, I could 脅す to make it all public, and under that 脅し exact my 条件s. Oh, it wasn't very 勇敢に立ち向かう, I know, but I had to 解放（する） Diana if I could, without doing her any 害（を与える）."

"Mademoiselle," said Hanaud gently, "I should welcome in myself a little more of just that cowardice."

Joyce Whipple smiled her thanks at him. "That is so prettily said that I shall make you out a long 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of the most commodious American phrases I can think of," she said, and went 支援する to her story. "I could get the 証拠, I thought. You see, we had all walked up to the Ch穰eau Mirandol the day before, to take tea there and see the library. We went along the road past the farm buildings and up the hill and entered the grounds by the little gate in the high hedge. It was the natural way from the Ch穰eau Suvlac, and I felt sure that it would be the one used on Wednesday week. Now, I had a 広大な／多数の／重要な friend in Professor Brewer, as you all know. He had served during the war in one of the 知能 分割s, and amongst the many stories he told me about those times was this. Just before the Irish rising, the Germans, by means of their 潜水艦s, were in touch with Irish leaders on the West Coast. It was necessary to identify those leaders, and an empty house on a lonely （土地などの）細長い一片 of cliff was 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd to be their 会合-place. But so many 警戒s were taken, and so much vigilance used at the times when these 会合s took place, that no （警察の）手入れ，急襲 would have had any chance of success. Not a soul would have been 設立する 近づく the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. Accordingly Professor Brewer concocted a mixture of 情熱-gas and varnish which if you touched it would not trouble you for an hour or so, but after that time would develop a sore on your 手渡す which no 治療（薬） could 傷をいやす／和解させる within six weeks. He was taken over to the West Coast on a トロール船, and landed on a dark night on the beach at the foot of the cliff. He climbed up the cliff and smeared with his varnish the little gate which led to the 前線 door. The 当局 then had only to wait and gather in anyone going about with an obstinate sore on the palm of his 手渡す. I remembered this story during my sleepless night, and the next morning I wrote to him at 物陰／風下d asking him to send me some of the varnish in a 登録（する）d packet, and telling him why I 手配中の，お尋ね者 it.

"My next step was a little more difficult. In answer to Monsieur de Mirandol's （民事の）告訴 that his 儀式s were trop r駱andu, there had been について言及する that the company went to them masked, and again M to O inclusive 保証するd me that the answer was sound. I wondered whether a mask was supposed to be 十分な or whether some more 完全にする disguise was 可決する・採択するd. I hoped the latter. It was reasonable to assume that a blasphemy of this 肉親，親類d would be celebrated late at night after the world had gone to bed. The 関係者s would 組み立てる／集結する 内密に, and it would be as 平易な for me to creep 負かす／撃墜する the stairs and out of the glass doors of the Ch穰eau Suvlac and up the hill to Mirandol as it would be for anyone else. But once there the 事例／患者 would be altered. I might by keeping my 注目する，もくろむs wide open and imitating the others take a place without committing an error which would attract everyone's attention. But I should have been at Suvlac for a fortnight. Would a mask be enough to disguise me? 特に from コマドリ Webster, the celebrant, whose 注目する，もくろむs made me hot and 冷淡な as they slid covetously over me from my 長，率いる to my shoes. Was a 支配 used? I could get that and a mask, no 疑問, in a big town like Bordeaux without the slightest difficulty.

"I thought of a way to make sure. My bedroom, as you all know, was above Diana's. I had been put up there at Evelyn Devenish's suggestion, so that on the night of Wednesday week I might be out of the way. But there was a spiral staircase at my door which opened on to the ground-床に打ち倒す 回廊（地帯） at the 味方する of Diana's door. I had but to wait for an 適切な時期 when Diana had gone out, slip into her room and discover if I could what she was going to wear. In the event of her 予期しない return, escape to my own room would be simple.

"I got my 適切な時期 two days later. Evelyn Devenish and コマドリ Webster drove in to Bordeaux during the morning in the small two-seater, ーするつもりであるing to lunch and spend the day there, and in the afternoon Diana and Mrs. Tasborough went off in the large car to 支払う／賃金 a 義務 visit to a family in Arcachon. The only 危険, therefore, that I ran was lest Marianne should come out from her kitchen and catch me. I was as quick as I could be, therefore, in running through Diana's 着せる／賦与するs. But I had, of course, to refold and 取って代わる everything 正確に／まさに as I 設立する it, and I had been three-４半期/4分の1s of an hour at this work before I （機の）カム across, at the 底（に届く） of a drawer, a boy's 黒人／ボイコット velvet 控訴, a short cassock of scarlet velvet, and a 黒人／ボイコット 支配 to cover them. There was a white cardboard box.

"I opened it and caught my breath. I almost cried out. For in the box lay that curiously 嫌悪すべき mask with the purple lips, the livid 直面する and 有望な red hair with which you are all familiar. It—shocked me. Yes! I hardly dared to touch it. It was so perfect, so unutterably sad and at the same time evil in its 表現. It seemed somehow to be alive."

Joyce was talking almost in a whisper, with her 直面する やめる pale and her forehead puckered, as she lived again through that moment of 発見. "I had a stupid 恐れる that if I touched it, it would spring at me, spring at my 直面する and do me some devilish 害（を与える）—perhaps even kill. I felt all at once very lonely in that sunlit, silent room, and a wasp suddenly buzzing upon a pane startled me out of my wits. I was 掴むd by a panic. I was 圧倒するd by a 願望（する） to run—anywhere from that accursed house, and leave it and everyone in it behind me for ever—whilst there was time. You know the way nervous people have of turning the 長，率いる this way and that over the shoulder lest somebody should be coming up 内密に behind them. 井戸／弁護士席, I suddenly saw myself in the mirror doing just that, with a 直面する of sheer terror. The sight brought me 支援する a little to my senses. It shamed me. And a queer notion—I was in the mood for queer notions— （機の）カム into my 長，率いる that if I put the mask on I should lose my 恐れる, I should even get some inspiration which would help me.

"I took it out of its box very gingerly and put it on. It didn't want any strings. For it fitted 井戸／弁護士席 over the 支援する of my 長，率いる and やめる closely over my 直面する. I looked at myself in the mirror. It was incredible how 完全に another personality had been fitted on to me with the mask. My own 注目する，もくろむs were there 向こうずねing through the long curled delicate eyelashes, but I could not have identified them myself. I had only to wear some dress no one at Suvlac had seen me in, alter it to give me a look of greater age, and with a mask like that over my 長，率いる and 直面する my own mother could not have 認めるd me.

"Yes, but I couldn't get a mask like that. It was the work of a real artist, a mask as finished as an ode of Horace. And then in a flash the inspiration did come. If I could take Diana's place! The dress itself showed that she was to take an actual part in the 祝賀. She was to be the acolyte who swings the censer. If I could take her place—and get away scot-解放する／自由な afterwards! Why, I should be mistress of the position and Diana would be 損なわれない. I could 脅す, I could expose, if the 法律 had a 罰 for this particular abomination, I could help the 法律 to （打撃，刑罰などを）与える it—and Diana would not be touched. If I could only take her place! And the moment after the inspiration （機の）カム, and whilst I was still standing before the mirror looking through the 注目する，もくろむ-穴を開けるs of the mask, （機の）カム the means of realizing it. They just unrolled themselves out in 前線 of me.

"I won't say that I wasn't 猛烈に 脅すd. I was. I knew that I should receive very little mercy from Evelyn Devenish once I was helpless in her 手渡すs. I shivered as I stood there. But it wasn't all from 恐れる. There was excitement in it too.

"I took off the mask—reluctantly—for I fancied that with its 除去 my inspiration would 消える too, and my 計画（する） become an absurdity. But they both remained with me. I held the mask in my 手渡す until I felt sure of them. Then I 取って代わるd it in its white cardboard box, 始める，決める everything in order, and slipped out of the room. The house was still empty. I went 負かす／撃墜する to a （法廷の）裁判 at the 底（に届く） of the garden and, sitting there, worked out my 計画（する） step by step, trying to think of every 欠陥 in it, of every 可能性 of 失敗. But, of course, the dreadful 罪，犯罪 which did 廃虚 it altogether never entered into my mind.

"That evening was of good augury. I had made a guess that Evelyn Devenish was a woman who would never move without a little 蓄える／店 of soporifics. I told her after dinner that I was sleeping 不正に at Suvlac, but that since I didn't have a doctor's prescription, I didn't see how I was going to get a sleeping-draught which it would be 価値（がある） while to take. Evelyn Devenish first of all laughed contemptuously at my innocence. But she 中止するd to laugh. She looked at me curiously, and then with a gleam of 楽しみ.

"'But, of course, I can help you,' she cried. So I was 権利 in my guess. 'I have some chloral in 水晶s. I'll fetch you a few,' and she hurried off to her room.

"I think it had come into her 長，率いる that a good strong sleeping-draught taken by me on the evening of Wednesday week would be a sound proposition. I should be kept out of the way very 完全に. I was the more sure of that when she returned with a little paper packet. For she 特に 主張するd that I should let her know in the morning what 影響 the 水晶s had had.

"'You must 解散させる them in water, of course,' she said. 'I have given you やめる a small dose to be on the 安全な 味方する. But it's important that I should know tomorrow how it has worked.'

"I 約束d to let her know, and took the 水晶s to my room. But once there, I was 脅すd to use them. Yet I had got to use them. I knew nothing about sleeping-draughts. I have slept like a baby all my life. I hadn't the slightest idea whether it was a weak dose or a strong dose—or even too strong a dose which had been given to me. Yes, that 恐れる was unpleasantly vivid to me. I watched the 水晶s disappearing in the water under the light of the lamp by my bed and I wondered whether I was not 解散させるing enough to put me out of the way for good and all. Evelyn's hard 注目する，もくろむs had held so mocking a smile: she had looked me over with such 完全にする contempt. On the other 手渡す, she was probably 実験ing—just as I was. She was finding out how much of the chloral was 要求するd to induce sleep so 深遠な that nothing would 乱す it on the night of Wednesday week—just as I was. I got into bed and drank the glassful of water in a hurry. I was in a panic when I had done it, and I tried やめる uselessly not to sleep at all. 'I won't,' I said to myself. 'I won't.' And the next thing I remember was looking at my watch in 幅の広い daylight and realizing that it was half-past eleven and my coffee 石／投石する-冷淡な on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する at my 味方する. I felt a little 激しい, but nothing worse; and I was inclined to 疑問 whether if I had been 自然に a light sleeper, the dose would have been strong enough. So all that I said to Evelyn was:

"'Yes, I slept a good 取引，協定 better. I didn't wake up so often.'

"Evelyn Devenish nodded her 長，率いる.

"'井戸／弁護士席, I'll give you a stronger draught next time. But it mustn't be yet. If you get into the habit of taking this stuff it won't have any 影響. You shall have some more of the 水晶s in a week's time, if you remind me."

"Now, a week brought us 正確に／まさに to the Wednesday when I was to be out of the way. I thanked her very gratefully for her 親切. She must have taken me for a zany, I slipped my foot so stupidly into her 罠（にかける）.

"So far all was very 約束ing, but I had one more 警戒 to take. I knew that the 祝賀—of the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり followed the ritual of the true 集まり, and I must be familiar with of money. As a 事柄 of fact, I was watching every movement of the one small boy of the village who 行為／法令／行動するd as his acolyte. There were movements not so very 平易な to get into one's 長，率いる. For いつかs they corresponded with the movements of the priest, いつかs they were in a sort of 対立, like—I don't use the words irreverently—like ダンサーs setting to partners. However, by the Wednesday, what with 出席 at the church and rehearsing in my bedroom, I felt that I could get through. On Tuesday morning, too, the 登録（する）d 小包 arrived from 物陰／風下d, and so everything was ready."

Joyce Whipple drew in a breath as she thus reached the last 行う／開催する／段階 of her adventure, and sat with her 注目する，もくろむs brooding upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. A 瓶／封じ込める of Evian water stood in the centre. She touched the arm of her lover and asked for a glass of it.

"Mademoiselle," Hanaud said gently, "if you are 乱すd by your recollections of that night, you must not let us 追加する the 苦しめる of relating them to us here. You will, 式のs! have to tell them once more."

"At the Cour d'Assizes," she answered. "I know, and I 自白する that I 縮む from the prospect of the publicity and the gaping 直面するs. But it will help me against that hour of ordeal if I tell it first の中で my friends. My story will be all the more ordered, and its repetition いっそう少なく of a penance."

She drained her glass of water and 再開するd.

CHAPTER 28. — THE NIGHT OF WEDNESDAY

"ON the Wednesday after 昼食 I took Evelyn Devenish aside upon the terrace and startled her 完全に by 説: "'It's for tonight, isn't it?'

"Her 注目する，もくろむs opened to their 十分な width in びっくり仰天, and the 血 left her 直面する.

"'For tonight? What's for tonight?' she stuttered, and waited in suspense for my answer. I took a little malicious 楽しみ in keeping her for as long as I could 安全に do it in her 当惑 and agitation.

"'What?' I repeated with an 空気／公表する of surprise. Oh, you won't have forgotten! I can't believe it,' and with every fresh 宣告，判決 I spoke she lost more and more of her 力／強力にする to dissimulate, until her 直面する looked like a pair of hard 注目する，もくろむs 有望な with hate 始める，決める in a white mask. I thought indeed as I looked at her: 'There's the very disguise for me.' But at the same time I realized that I wasn't 存在 very wise. So I said quickly:

"'You 約束d me a sleeping-draught for tonight, Mrs. Devenish. I have been looking 今後 to it tremendously.'

"The colour 急ぐd 支援する into her 直面する. 'Of course, I hadn't forgotten,' she answered. 'You shall certainly have it, Joyce.' Then she changed her 公式文書，認める. 'I want you to do something for me in return. Oh, a little thing! It'll sound silly to you. Perhaps it is. But I am rather superstitious,' and she pulled herself up as though she had said too much. 'I want you to lend me something you usually wear—that bracelet, for instance,' and she pointed to the gold 禁止（する）d 一連の会議、交渉／完成する my wrist. 'I'll give it 支援する to you tomorrow.'

"No 疑問 I looked surprised. I couldn't imagine why even the most superstitious person should want it. It wasn't a charm, or a thing which is supposed to bring luck, like a bracelet of elephant's hair. It was just a （土地などの）細長い一片 of gold with a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 opal at the clasp. I unfastened it, however, and gave it to her.

"'Of course you can have it,' I said, rather amused. Evelyn Devenish almost snatched at it. Then she looked at me with amusement too, but a secret sort of amusement, as though I was the greatest fool in the world to let her have it.

"I waited until after tea in the garden—we had no 探検隊／遠征隊 arranged for that day—and then I slipped out alone for a walk, with the varnish, a small paint-小衝突 and a 厚い pair of gloves in my handbag. I went by the hill road to the little gate in the tall hedge of the Mirandol garden. No one was within sight. I put on the 厚い gloves and painted the latch and the 地位，任命する and the rail carefully and quickly. Then I made a bundle of the 瓶／封じ込める, the 小衝突 and the gloves and 押し進めるd it 深い into the hedge; from which place Monsieur Hanaud has, I think, 回復するd it."

Hanaud contented himself with a nod of assent. This was not the moment for even the most commodious of phrases. For a curious uneasiness had been 伸び（る）ing upon Joyce's small audience. Each one felt that he was a 観客 of the events which he was 単に 審理，公聴会 関係のある. Each one was 現在の in the rose-pink ch穰eau of Suvlac, watched the 孤独な, 罰金-hearted girl in her crusade against the 力／強力にするs of 不明瞭, and trembled at the 問題／発行する. She was there in 前線 of them, but the pinewood 塀で囲むs of the homely restaurant had fallen apart and they walked with her in the glamour of her high adventure.

"Whilst I was dressing for dinner Evelyn Devenish knocked at my door and entered the room.

"'Here's the draught for you,' she said. 'There are a few more 水晶s than there were last time. But not too many. I should take them all.'

"She 押し進めるd the white packet into my 手渡す and went out again. The packet was a good 取引，協定 heavier than the one which she had 初めは given me, and I was afraid to use it all. I 解散させるd about three-４半期/4分の1s of the 水晶s in a small 量 of water whilst I finished dressing, 注ぐd the draught carefully into a little 薬／医学 瓶／封じ込める, corked the 瓶／封じ込める and hid it in a drawer. Then I went 負かす／撃墜する to dinner and 設立する you"—she turned に向かって Mr. Ricardo with a smile. "You gave me a 罰金 shock afterwards, although you were unaware of it, but at that moment I was delighted to see you. I had been alone before—now I had someone who would stand by my 味方する."

"Yes, yes! To be sure, I was there," said Mr. Ricardo, feeling やめる ready for everything now that the danger of everything had passed. He was unable, indeed, to understand in what way he could have 原因（となる）d Joyce Whipple any serious alarm. Joyce was making a mistake. Her memories of that night were not unnaturally 混乱させるd.

"I welcomed you all the more," Joyce continued, "because we were all, with the exception of コマドリ Webster, nervous on that evening. He was as 静める, as self-保証するd, as though he had no 苦悩 upon his mind heavier than a 疑問 whether the にわか雨 of rain would 落ちる in time to 増加する the vintage. But the 残り／休憩（する） of soul in the dining-room except the servants, Mrs. Tasborough and Mr. Ricardo who did not understand my allusion. I had given away my knowledge of the horrible secret which bound that little 世帯 as 明確に as if I had stood up and cried it aloud. I remember that Evelyn Devenish, after the moment of びっくり仰天 had passed, looked triumphantly across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する at コマドリ Webster. She was 説 by her 表現 as 明確に as words could have said: 'What did I tell you? She knows.'

"There was, indeed, a little 会議／協議会 held upon the terrace after dinner between her and コマドリ Webster and de Mirandol. But they had no 推論する／理由 to think that I was aware of what they had planned for tonight, and as for tomorrow—井戸／弁護士席, Evelyn Devenish had made her 手はず／準備 for me. I was afraid for a moment that the 祝賀 might be put off until the Friday. For I had no excuse for altering my 手はず／準備. I was bound to go in the morning. But as the 会議／協議会 broke up, de Mirandol said in his high 発言する／表明する: 'At one o'clock, then.' Then a low cry of impatience from Evelyn Devenish, but he 追加するd 'tomorrow,' and they all laughed.

"The 協定 was to 持つ／拘留する, then. I have explained to you how I had slipped into the way of 準備するing the drinks of the events will remember, （機の）カム into the room last of all, and asked me for a brandy-and-soda. The （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する was so placed that I had my 支援する to the room. I took the cork out of the little 瓶／封じ込める, put some brandy into the glass, and then, 攻撃するing the siphon with my Fauriel and the others who were not staying in the house 出発／死d, and we 分散させるd to our rooms. It was still very 早期に."

"Yes," Mr. Ricardo agreed. "I remember that it was 正確に／まさに ten minutes to eleven when I began to 準備する myself for bed."

"I had made up my mind to wait for an hour and a half before I stole 負かす／撃墜する to Diana's room. I took off my dress and changed into 黒人／ボイコット stockings and shoes, and put on a dressing-gown, all in a foolish fever. But after that I had nothing to do and I have never known time creep so slowly. With the passage of each everlasting minute I shrank more and more from the 危険，危なくする in 前線 of me. I saw myself （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd, my mask stripped from me. I imagined Evelyn Devenish gloating over me, her hate 満足させるd. But I had a shivery sort of intuition that even she could not be as cruel as de Mirandol with his red lips and his big, flabby 直面する. And the mere sight of my bed, with its white sheet turned neatly 負かす／撃墜する, began to make me drowsy. I began to argue: 'Suppose that I went to bed, Diana could not leave the house tonight. That's 確かな and that's the main thing.'

"Of course it wasn't. The main thing was that there shouldn't be another 適切な時期 of repeating tonight with Diana 現在の. But the 招待 of my pillows was becoming irresistible, would have already become irresistible if I had not had just one little 誘発する of shame glowing within me at the thought that all my 罰金 計画（する）s and 決意／決議s were dwindling to nothing at all because I couldn't keep my 注目する，もくろむs open. Then I sprang up and turned out the light. I couldn't go on with the white sheets and the pillows shouting to me not to be a fool. In the dark, unable to see them, I might be better able to keep awake. And it was lucky that I did turn the light out. For a few minutes later, as I was sitting on the 辛勝する／優位 of the bed, I heard the 捨てる of a foot upon the 石／投石する staircase outside my door. Someone—Evelyn Devenish —it could only be her—was listening outside my door to make sure that I was asleep. At once I was wide awake and 確かな too that I was late, that I せねばならない be now dressed and ready in the hall. I had a 恐れる that she would go into Diana's room, and I listened for the sound of a door 開始 and shutting, for a startled cry, for a 急ぐ of feet. But when a few moments afterwards I opened my own door, the house was so silent that I felt I could have heard a mouse stirring.

"I had の近くにd my shutters and drawn the curtains over the windows, when I first went upstairs. I turned on the light again and looked at my watch. It was within a few minutes of half-past twelve. I crept downstairs and very gently opened Diana's door. Her light was still 燃やすing, but she herself lay upon her bed in the dress which she had been wearing, breathing easily and sound asleep. I laid a quilt over her, took from the drawer the 黒人／ボイコット velvet 控訴, the cassock, the 支配 and the mask, and was turning に向かって the door when I saw a 小包 wrapped up in brown paper upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. For all I knew, it might have something to the lock, and after going out locked the door behind me. I didn't want Evelyn Devenish to 失敗 into the room at the last moment and find her asleep. If she tried the door, she would think that Diana had already made her way to our rendezvous and had locked her door for safety.

"At ten minutes to one, then, dressed and masked, I slipped out of the 前線 door and went quickly 負かす／撃墜する the road to the farm buildings. A small car without any lights stood in the road. コマドリ Webster やめる undisguised sat at the wheel, with a woman beside him—Evelyn Devenish. She threw open the door upon her 味方する, but I had quickness enough to see that fortune was favouring me. I waved with my 手渡す, 'The answer is in the 消極的な,' and climbed into the dickey. Neither コマドリ Webster nor Evelyn 圧力（をかける）d the 招待 to join them, and the car ran 速く along the road across the pasture and up the hill to the gate. I let them both get 負かす／撃墜する first, and I was still indeed on the step when I heard a stifled 誓い from Webster and a little cry of annoyance from Evelyn Devenish. Both of them had got some of my professor's varnish on their 手渡すs, and when I reached them they were rubbing it off as best they could with their handkerchiefs. 'Be careful of the gate. It's sticky,' said コマドリ Webster as he swung it open. I passed through behind him and Evelyn Devenish, and I kicked it to with my foot. I 手配中の，お尋ね者 everybody who used that gate tonight to open it with a 手渡す upon the latch. The 前線 door of the house was open and the passage lit. The light streaming through the doorway showed me some small groups of people, and here the light 明らかにする／漏らすd a mask, there an enshrouding cloak. There were lights, too, in the library upon the ground 床に打ち倒す, and the 影をつくる／尾行するs of people moving to and fro were flung upon the gravel. The company, indeed, was larger than I 推定する／予想するd, and at one moment I welcomed it as a 安全, at another I dreaded it as multiplying the chances of （犯罪，病気などの）発見.

"'This way,' said コマドリ Webster 静かに, and he led us 一連の会議、交渉／完成する Mirandol was in a fever. His 直面する was patched with red and his 手渡すs shaking.

"'You are ready?' he asked. 'It is time.'

"Evelyn Devenish laughed, upon a low thrilling 公式文書，認める.

"'This is my moment,' she said. 'The old days shall be the new days. What happened once shall happen again. As she won, so shall I.'

"They were the words of the fortune-teller, of the charlatan making mysteries, but they were uttered in a 発言する／表明する so 熱烈な and sincere that I couldn't 疑問 they meant all the world to her. 'Lord of the Earth!' she cried in a low 発言する／表明する, and sobbed and spoke her 祈り again. 'Lord of the Earth,' and she crossed herself 上向きs instead of downwards with her thumb. 'Give him 支援する to me!' She looked at コマドリ Webster, her 注目する，もくろむs 向こうずねing 有望な through the 穴を開けるs of a 黒人／ボイコット silk mask. She was wearing a long cloak which she held の近くに about her, and I noticed for the first time, with a shock, that her feet in her slippers were 明らかにする. 'Give him 支援する to me,' she repeated like a woman distracted, and de Mirandol took her by the 肘.

"'Come!' he said, and he led her into the big room, の近くにing the door behind him. I heard the clicking of the switches of the electric light; and a few minutes later a subdued clatter of people entering the room and taking their places.

"一方／合間 コマドリ Webster had stood like a 人物／姿／数字 of 石／投石する, with his 注目する，もくろむs bent upon the 床に打ち倒す. He raised his 直面する with a sigh of 救済. He slipped off his long coat, and I saw that he was wearing a priest's cassock. He put on the alb and the stole very slowly, a man wrapt in his dreams. He took something from the pocket of his coat, which he hid in his sleeve. Then he turned and looked at me. I had taken off my 支配. He pointed to a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する on which a censer of gold with golden chains was 残り／休憩（する）ing. It was filled with incense waiting to be kindled, and a box of matches stood upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する beside it. I struck a match and lit the incense and took the censer in my 手渡す. A smoke curled up from it 黒人／ボイコット as pitch, and the ガス／煙s filled the room with an odour acrid, intoxicating. All the while his 注目する，もくろむs were watching me. Every moment I 推定する／予想するd a cry from him: 'Who are you?' But no cry （機の）カム. I stood up and 直面するd him, swinging the censer to and fro across my 団体／死体 and between us, so that I saw him only through a もや of smoke.

Even so, I felt he must know me, he stood and 星／主役にするd with so 始める，決める a 直面する, and such unwinking 注目する，もくろむs. Suddenly an 激しい 救済 （機の）カム over me. For I realized that though he 星／主役にするd, he did not see. I was nothing to him. His thoughts were turned in upon himself. A slow smile flickered about his mouth, his tongue moistened his lips, and he felt his sleeve with his 権利 手渡す —to make sure. I know now that he was savouring the moment which was to 始める，決める him 解放する／自由な from the tedium and the exactions of his mistress—savouring it with a voluptuous slow delight.

"'Now,' he said, and he opened the door. A 炎 of light 急ぐd in on us.

"I followed him, with a 祈り on my lips and a terrible 恐れる at my heart. But no longer a 恐れる lest I should 失敗 and be discovered. I had passed beyond that. I suppose the ガス／煙s of the incense were making me drunk. But I was at that moment afraid as I hope I shall never be again—afraid that I should see Satan himself taking 形態／調整 in that room in the 中央 of his worshippers, baleful and hideous, with death in the mere pointing of his finger. What 保護 would my disguise be then? I went 今後 dazed and stunned. The room was a blur to me. But in a little while my 見通し （疑いを）晴らすd. I saw the room about half 十分な, and not a soul in it but was masked and wore some 隠すing 包む. But here and there beneath the 包むs of the women I could see the sheen of white shoulders and the flash of jewels. And all of them were muttering and whispering so that the room was filled as with the hum of bees. Then as コマドリ Webster prostrated himself before the altar I took my position at the 味方する and behind him. The altar was a living woman. Yes!

"A 広大な／多数の／重要な lamp hung in the 天井 flung 負かす／撃墜する a light golden and dazzling. It lit up the 青年 beautiful with the blue, 悲しみ-haunted 注目する，もくろむs, and the two パネル盤s at the 味方する, and it 注ぐd upon Evelyn Devenish, stretched naked upon her 支援する on a 黒人／ボイコット 棺-棺／かげり. Her 注目する，もくろむs were の近くにd, but her bosom rose and fell with her tumultuous breathing, and her 武器 were outstretched stiff and rigid to make with her outstretched 団体／死体 the form of a cross. I understood then what her words had meant in the little room:

"コマドリ Webster began the service of the 集まり with the murmured Latin 祈りs and, as the ritual 任命するd, I changed my place from 味方する to 味方する, swung the censer and bent the 膝. It was the true 集まり, the 集まり meant to deceive. For not until the Flesh had been made bread and the 血 ワイン, could begin the orgy of jeers and mockery, the frenzy of the adoration of Satan which in half an hour would make of that room a stew, a sty of animals met in a 戦う／戦い of lust. So the 祈りs to the true God followed one upon the other, and as I passed from one end of the altar to the other I saw my gold bracelet glittering upon Evelyn Devenish's wrist and—yes—a smear of the varnish dark on the palm of her 手渡す. She had called herself superstitious, I remembered, when she borrowed the bracelet. She had gone 支援する to the most 古代の superstition in the world. If she wore something of 地雷 in this 最高の 危機, she would draw into herself and out of me the innermost heart of me, and all that I had of 力／強力にする to attract. As the sacred 最高潮 approached, a 広大な／多数の／重要な trembling took her 団体／死体 and 四肢s, her 注目する，もくろむs opened and 直す／買収する，八百長をするd themselves on the Adonis; cries, uttered low like the whimperings of an animal, broke continually from her lips. コマドリ Webster took the chalice and raised it above his 長，率いる, and then placed it between her breasts and bent over her, fumbling at his sleeve. The cries of Evelyn Devenish melted into one long-drawn wail, a convulsion shook her from 長，率いる to foot, there was a 動揺させる in her throat, her 武器 relaxed, and once more she lay still. コマドリ Webster raised the chalice again, and every murmur 中止するd. I could not look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, but I was as sure as if I had looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する that everyone in that 議会 was 直す／買収する，八百長をするd like 石／投石する in an extremity of horror. I was standing on the left-手渡す 味方する by Evelyn Devenish's feet, and コマドリ Webster's 支援する やめる obscured my 見解（をとる）. I saw him 解除する the chalice a third time, and now like corn in a 勝利，勝つd the 議会 swayed and bent. The murmurs broke out again, louder, more hysterical. コマドリ Webster stooped with the chalice in his 手渡す, and I heard the trickle of a liquid running into it. Suddenly a woman 叫び声をあげるd, there was a grating and overturning of 議長，司会を務めるs, a frenzied movement, and above the clamour rose the 発言する／表明する of コマドリ Webster, （犯罪の）一味ing 勝利を得た, as he stretched out his 武器 with the cup between his palms に向かって the picture of Adonis.

"'Now, if ever, 迎える／歓迎する your worshippers! You have a sacrifice worthy of you. Come! Come!'

"But even above his 発言する／表明する there rang another, more violent, more terrible, and it uttered one word only.

"'殺人!'

"I saw コマドリ Webster turn about に向かって the room; I saw Evelyn Devenish with the hilt of a knife upright above her heart, and her breast （土地などの）細長い一片d with 血; I felt myself caught up in a whirl of people, and then I heard above the uproar an order given with 当局:

"'Lock the door! No one must go!'

"I dived, I reached the little door in the panelled 塀で囲む. I opened it and slipped through. There was a bolt on that inner 味方する. I 発射 it into its socket and raced 負かす／撃墜する the staircase, 涙／ほころびing the surplice off me as I ran. It was white, and even in the 不明瞭 would guide a 追跡. I dropped it in the 支援する 入り口 of the house, ran through the garden, unlatched the gate with a 手渡す 保護するd by the cassock, and ran 負かす／撃墜する the hill に向かって Suvlac. There was no 追跡. In the 混乱 my escape was overlooked.

"But it couldn't be overlooked for long. I knew 当局 when I heard it. The 発言する／表明する which had ordered, 'Lock the door! No one must go!'—I know now that it was the 発言する／表明する of Arthur Tidon, the 裁判官. Then I only knew that it was the 発言する／表明する of a man with the habit of 命令（する） and his wits under 支配（する）／統制する. Neither Monsieur de Mirandol nor コマドリ Webster 脅すd me now. It was the unknown owner of that 発言する／表明する. I took my mask off my 長，率いる and carried it in my 手渡す. I ran past the farm buildings—they were all in 不明瞭—and up the slope to the Ch穰eau Suvlac. I looked to the house of Mirandol on the hill. The lights were still 炎ing in the long upper room. They were 審議ing there still; but with 当局 to 行為／行う the 審議. The 審議 wouldn't last long. They must 行為／法令／行動する, and again I thought, with the 当局 of that 発言する／表明する to direct the 活動／戦闘, it would be swift and 決定的な.

It was the unknown 発言する／表明する yelling "殺人!" that 脅すd
Joyce. Into the 不明瞭 she ran, carrying the mask.

"I let myself into the house by the glass door of the 製図／抽選-room, and crept along the passage to Diana's room. I 打ち明けるd the door and turned up the light. She had not stirred since I had left her. I locked the door now from the inside. I had to undress her and put her 適切に to bed. That was 絶対 緊急の. Up there on the hill, when it （機の）カム to counting 長，率いるs, the absence of the acolyte was 確かな to be discovered. They had already without a 疑問 discovered it now—コマドリ Webster and de Mirandol and the man with the 発言する／表明する. They would not be 乱すd, however, so long as they believed the acolyte to be Diana. They would assume that she had fled, just as I did 逃げる, at the first commotion.

"'No one,' I argued, 'of all those 現在の can afford to give one word of （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） about this 罪，犯罪. They dare not 自白する that they were 補助装置ing at this abominable blasphemy. コマドリ Webster knew that very 井戸／弁護士席 when he planned to commit it. They are all his confederates, bound by their own 利益／興味s to the strictest secrecy. Very 井戸／弁護士席. Very likely everyone will be compelled to unmask. Certainly they will 分散させる at once, and two or three will be left to decide what to do—コマドリ Webster, Monsieur de Mirandol and the 発言する／表明する. But what those three decide they must tell Diana. They must 準備する her for the morning. They must come here tonight and soon—very soon. If they find her asleep in the dress she wore this evening, they must know that I took her place.'

"So I 始める，決める to work. Oh, but it was difficult! I had to be very gentle lest I should wake her. She was a good 負わせる too. I had to get everything off and her pyjamas on. It was done at last, but, oh, the time it took! Every moment I 推定する／予想するd the sound of a footfall in the 回廊（地帯）. I got her 適切に into her bed, then I turned out the light, 打ち明けるd the door, left it shut and 打ち明けるd, and stole up the staircase to my own room. I locked myself in, turned on my light, and like a fool 崩壊（する）d on my bed. I didn't faint, but I felt—oh, awful!! cried until it seemed impossible that I had any 涙／ほころびs left. I had to stuff the bed-sheet into my mouth to stop myself from 叫び声をあげるing. I felt that I was 落ちるing 権利 through the bed 負かす／撃墜する precipice after precipice. I thought that I was dying.

"I don't know how long the fit lasted. But after a time I sat up with just one longing—to get into the open 空気／公表する. With my windows shuttered and the door locked, I was 存在 stifled in a 刑務所，拘置所. And then I remembered the gabare. It （機の）カム three times a week to Suvlac and left in the night with the tide for Bordeaux. I had seen its mast above the little ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる that very day. I might be in time to catch it before it sailed if I hurried. The captain would give me a passage if I paid enough for it. I didn't trouble about my 着せる／賦与するs; I didn't think of anything except putting as wide a distance as possible between me and this house. I snatched up the 支配 and the mask—that I did not dare to leave behind—and turning out my light I stole from the room. My quickest way to the harbour was by the terrace door in Diana's room. It was latched but not locked. I ran 負かす／撃墜する the steps across the lawn, つまずくd at the flower-bed, ran on and （機の）カム to a dead stop at the 底（に届く） of the avenue. The gabare had gone. I flung the mask up into a tree. I had a horror of it. I felt that it made me an 共犯者 in the 罪，犯罪, and I was conscious of the most 激しい 救済 when at last I was 解放する／自由な of it. I turned to the 権利 and ran up the avenue in the 黒人／ボイコット 避難所 of the trees. I had a thought of taking 避難 with Marianne and Jules Amad馥, but I still clung 猛烈に to a hope that if only I could talk with Diana first of all, we could arrange some story which would keep her out of the スキャンダル of the 罪，犯罪 altogether. I 推論する／理由d that once 支援する again in my room with the door locked and my bed drawn across it, I should be 安全な till morning. And morning could not be far away.

"But as I flitted across the terrace I saw something move behind the window of the library—you," and Joyce Whipple turned to Mr. Ricardo. "I sprang into Diana's room, locked the glass door and turned on the light for a moment. It was just as I had left it. Diana had not moved. And then someone knocked. My fingers were on the switch. I turned the light out. This was my moment. If the pursuers were out upon the terrace, I had time to reach my room and バリケード it. I sped up the little staircase, went into my room. I was too late. The men from the Ch穰eau Mirandol had been led by コマドリ Webster to Diana's room. They had 設立する her sunk in a sleep so impenetrable that 麻薬s alone could account for it. It was （疑いを）晴らす that I had taken her place. And whilst my fingers fumbled in the 不明瞭 for the switch a cloak was thrown over my 長，率いる and a 手渡す was 圧力（をかける）d over my mouth. I did go out in a faint then. For when I （機の）カム to myself I was 存在 carried from a モーター-car into Monsieur de Mirandol's house. There were three men, Monsieur de Mirandol himself, コマドリ Webster, and a man who still wore a mask upon his 直面する. I was carried 負かす／撃墜する to a cellar, and whilst the man in the mask stood over me, the two others brought a mattress and a water-jug and things like that.

確信して that she was 安全な at last, Joyce fumbled in the dark for the switch.
But out of the 影をつくる／尾行するs a cloak was thrown over her 長，率いる and she fell fainting.

"'We'll decide about her tomorrow' said the man with the mask, and I shivered. For I had 認めるd his 発言する／表明する. It was the 発言する／表明する of the man who had cried: 'Lock the door!' I remember that コマドリ Webster went out of the cellar last, and before he went he stooped 負かす／撃墜する over me and whispered: 'Don't lose heart! I'll save you.'

"But of course he couldn't. I hadn't a hope that he could. He must agree to what the others decided.

"There was a grating in the cellar under the 天井 which let in 空気／公表する and a trickle of grey light. Some time after it was day Monsieur de Mirandol brought me some food and I implored him to let me go. I don't know what I 約束d, but he never replied to me at all. Then the evening afterwards, Tidon and de Mirandol （機の）カム together. They 手錠d me and put a gag in my mouth and tied my 脚s. I was carried upstairs by Tidon. His car was at the door, with an all-天候 団体／死体 の近くにd, and no chauffeur. He laid me on the 床に打ち倒す and covered me with a rug, and after a minute or two the car moved off."

Hanaud nodded his 長，率いる.

"Tidon was the one man who could 運動 into Bordeaux through my 非常線，警戒線 without his car 存在 searched," he said. "But even so he took his 警戒s, the good man. As he 近づくd Bordeaux he made a 回路・連盟 of the town, and in some by-小道／航路 mademoiselle here was transferred to a horse-drawn conveyance driven by a 肉親，親類d friend of the 未亡人 Chicholle."

CHAPTER 29. — HANAUD DOTS THE T'S

THUS Joyce Whipple told her story. Before she had got very far with it she slipped her 手渡す under Bryce Carter's arm with a pretty gesture, 保証するing herself by the touch of him that the bad days of which she was telling were really at an end. And before she had come to her flight from the house of Mirandol, his arm was about her waist and she held の近くに to his 味方する. Thus, too, they remained when the story was told, not even the charm of a 瓶／封じ込める of very 甘い pink シャンペン酒 which Hanaud recklessly ordered 十分であるing to unlink them.

"Each one the glass 十分な to the brim!" he cried. "So! We 誓約（する） 行方不明になる Joyce. And do we tap the heels? No! We do not!"

He raised his glass against the light, watched with evident 予期 the 泡s breaking on the surface of the ワイン, and 屈服するing to her with kindliness and 賞賛 so warm upon his 直面する that not one of them but was stirred, he cried: "To the 勇敢に立ち向かう young lady from the Bowery!"

Joyce laughed and blushed and thanked him with 向こうずねing 注目する，もくろむs. Bryce Carter, 正当化するing himself in Hanaud's thoughts at last, kissed her plump on the mouth, Hanaud smacked his lips, Mr. Ricardo shut his 注目する，もくろむs as though he was about to take castor oil; and then they drank their glasses empty.

"The シャンペン酒!" said Hanaud. "On the occasion it is 権利 to drink him."

"And this シャンペン酒 is wonderful," said Bryce Carter shamelessly.

"A most nauseating （水以外の）飲料," said Mr. Ricardo, but he only said it to himself. He had shown heroism enough in drinking the decoction.

"Now," said Hanaud. "We have heard the story. All that remains is for me to—as you would say"—and he inclined his 長，率いる に向かって Bryce Carter—"to dot the T's."

"やめる so," Bryce Carter agreed, but Mr. Ricardo was not so lenient.

"Cross the T's, my friend!"

Hanaud threw up his 手渡すs. "You hear? He calls me his friend, yet always he makes a mocking of me. But tonight I forbid. No,

He challenged Mr. Ricardo with a glare, but 直面するd with the monstrosity of a man who said the English crossed the C's, he was without reply.

"Good! I have silenced him. So! In the first place the gabare should have sailed with the tide at six in the morning. Yet when 行方不明になる Joyce runs to take 避難 upon it, between two and three of the clock, it is gone. It puts out into the river to 錨，総合司会者 there, or to drift さらに先に and さらに先に from its 目的地. There is no sense in the patron's 活動／戦闘, eh? 井戸／弁護士席, let us hear what he says! He says that すぐに after two he was waked by 審理，公聴会 someone step lightly from the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる on to his deck. He 押し進めるd his 長，率いる and shoulders out of his cubby, and at once コマドリ Webster stooped 負かす／撃墜する to him and said in a whisper:

"'Don't make any noise, but come 岸に!'

"Webster led him into the grove of trees and showed him the basket, already corded. He thinks that a little way off two other men were standing, but he cannot he sure. He was not told what was in the basket. But he was 申し込む／申し出d the gabare with its sails and ropes and furniture, just as it lay in the harbour, if he put out now at once and sank that 激しい basket with a 負わせる 大（公）使館員d to it in the middle of the Gironde. The patron says that he is a poor man, and that to own that 罰金 gabare, the Belle Simone, was the dream of his life. He roused his two sons, carried on board the basket, which was, after all, not suspiciously 激しい, 押し進めるd out into the river, and sank it 負わせるd as he had been directed. But he had been told to be very quick, and no 疑問, therefore, had tied the 負わせる on carelessly. But that was now seen to be the will of the good God who brings the 罪，犯罪s to the light of day. And for himself he is very glad, for he is 自然に of a 宗教的な nature, etcetera, etcetera. That is the patron's story, and it fits in with the facts as we know them. The Belle Simone cannot have left its little harbour more than a few minutes before 行方不明になる Joyce （機の）カム to a sudden stop at the foot of the avenue and left the （疑いを）晴らす imprints of her shoes in the soft grass." Hanaud turned に向かって Joyce with a serious look upon his 直面する. "You had a moment of despair then, yes, mademoiselle, but I am inclined to congratulate you upon 行方不明の the gabare, in spite of the patron's very 宗教的な nature. After all, a 罰金 gabare with all its 器具／備品—eh?" and he shrugged his shoulders. Mr. Ricardo, however, was not 性質の／したい気がして to 受託する the patron's story. It was a defect perhaps pardonable in a character さもなければ so white, that whenever that gentleman got a 後退 from Hanaud, he 設立する it necessary afterwards to 疑問 his 声明s, his efficiency, the suitability of his age for his work, his sense of humour and his 贈呈 of his 事例／患者. So now:

"I have a little difficulty in believing that the basket could have been 伝えるd to the gabare within so short a time," he said, stabbing the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する delicately with the tips of his fingers and smiling a trifle offensively.

"You would have, my friend," Hanaud agreed. "Yet, after all, though you 単に wish to trip me up, you put a question. Let us consider the time. In the first place, 行方不明になる Joyce runs 負かす／撃墜する the hill. It is a kilometre. Then she undresses Mademoiselle Diana and puts her to bed. Ah, ah! Not so 平易な! Not to be done while you say: 'Twinkle, twinkle, little bedpost!' No!"

"Only a lunatic would make such a 発言／述べる," said Mr. Ricardo acidly.

"After the undressing, 行方不明になる Joyce goes up to her room and, already overtired, does the 決裂／故障. Good! Then she feels stifled, and only then does she think of the gabare. Now look at the other 味方する! Tidon, with his ambitions and his wits about him, and as mademoiselle then 公式文書，認めるd, with his habit of 命令（する）, コマドリ Webster, his 黒人／ボイコット beast out of his way—both will hurry, hurry, for the morning somewhere beyond Bordeaux comes hurry, hurry too. They have a little 準備 to make. They make it. They put the basket on de Mirandol's car. They come 負かす／撃墜する past the offices and out on to the Bordeaux road. Half a kilometre from the main 入り口 to Mirandol, a gate leads into the 農園 of Suvlac. They 運動 the car into the 農園. They are now の近くに to the avenue of trees. That basket is not so 激しい for three men, as the captain of the gabare very truly said. There was time and to spare—even with that little 準備 taken into account."

It did not need the slight 強調 with which Hanaud 強調する／ストレスd the words to make （疑いを）晴らす to anyone at that （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する 正確に／まさに what he meant. Joyce Whipple shivered and her 直面する 契約d with a spasm of 苦痛.

"Yes, not pretty, mademoiselle, but what will you? There was the smear upon that poor woman's palm. Already the palms of コマドリ Webster and Tidon were tingling and 燃やすing. Already the flesh was raw. That good 治安判事 was taking no 危険s except those which he needs must take. He had seen 罪，犯罪s brought to light because the last necessary little 警戒 had been forgotten or despised. Suppose that, in spite of all, that 団体／死体 was discovered with a little 負傷させる on the palm which matched the 負傷させるs on the palms of コマドリ Webster and Monsieur Tidon— there might be some ぎこちない talk, eh? So"—and Hanaud chopped the 味方する of his 手渡す はっきりと 負かす／撃墜する upon the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, so that even the men jumped, and Joyce uttered a little cry. "Not pretty, eh? What became of that 手渡す? Who shall say? The furnace or the earth. But it is curious about that bracelet, eh? It was 乱すing to discover it—行方不明になる Whipple's gold bracelet in that basket. Very 半端物, very 乱すing. But it is plain now, eh? The 手渡す was chopped on the 辛勝する／優位 of the basket. Very likely no one noticed the 負傷させる until a moment before. Then—" He raised his 手渡す again edgewise to 削減（する） the 空気／公表する, and Joyce Whipple leaned 速く across her lover and 逮捕（する）d it.

"Please! Please!" she pleaded.

"井戸／弁護士席, I omit the chops," Hanaud 譲歩するd rather reluctantly, "but there was a chop and the gold bracelet—he slips into the basket. Why should they bother about it, with all that necessity to hurry, hurry? They did not know that it was the bracelet of 行方不明になる Whipple borrowed by a superstitious woman as a charm. So there is one T dotted."

"Crossed," Mr. Ricardo 抗議するd in an undertone.

"Dotted," said Bryce Carter やめる loudly. "And mind you, I was in the Foreign Office, where we know almost as much about the English language as Monsieur Hanaud himself. Go on, Monsieur Hanaud! I beg you to dot a T for me."

Hanaud was magnanimity in person. He 辞退するd to trample upon a prostrate 敵. Perhaps one little look of 勝利, and he turned to Bryce Carter.

"Perfectly. Your T, I dot him."

"How was it that Joyce 生き残るd during those two days at Mirandol? They ran such 危険s, those three. You had but to search the house."

"Oh, but I have no 権利 yet to search the house," Hanaud interrupted. "I must have 当局, 許可s, and who to 認める them but the excellent Tidon? He make me some annoyances, I can tell you, if I ask him. Also some annoyances, perhaps, for mademoiselle there. No, I take another way. Oh, I 確実にする that mademoiselle shall keep her life in the house of Mirandol, never 恐れる!"

Mr. Ricardo sniggered.

"I do that. Yes, I! No one else! Just I!"

Mr. Ricardo smiled across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する at Joyce. "Monsieur Hanaud is not at his best on these occasions. As he would say, modesty is not his summer 控訴ing. And how do you do it?"

"I 警告する them. You hear me 警告する them, my friend," Hanaud replied with a gravity which やめる disconcerted Mr. Ricardo. "I tell them that they cannot rid themselves of the dead. Oh, Tidon knows it, but I remind him. I have a 非常線，警戒線 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the house. What can they do? There are just two ways—the earth or the stove. For the earth, they are sure I mean to go through that house like a repairer of the roads. For the stove? All that 黒人／ボイコット evil smoke from the chimney—no, no—" And suddenly he caught himself up. "But, mademoiselle, I beg the 容赦. On both the 膝s. It was not nice what I said. No, we 非難する Mr. Ricardo, who 運動s me on with snickerings."

He was speaking very remorsefully to Joyce, who was watching him with a 緊張するd white 直面する and such a look of horror in her 注目する，もくろむs as put them all to shame for their eager questions.

"You 許す? Yes. We are rough people, without the suitable delicacies. But we love you—even the indescribable Mr. Ricardo. So you 許す?"

But Joyce seemed for the moment not to hear nor to be aware of the real tenderness which underlay the absurdity of his words. With a shudder which shook her from her 長，率いる to her feet, she buried her 直面する in her 手渡すs.

"Oh, oh!" she moaned in a low 発言する／表明する. "The 黒人／ボイコット evil smoke! Me!" and she swayed 今後s so that but for Bryce Carter's clasp she would have fallen across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. びっくり仰天 掴むd upon the little group. Hanaud filled a glass with Evian water.

"She drink this quick." He gave it into Bryce Carter's 解放する／撤去させるd 手渡す. "You make her drink it, or I say you are not her man and forbid the 禁止（する）d."

"Banns," （機の）カム feebly from the lips of Mr. Ricardo. Bryce Carter gently drew the girl's 手渡すs from her 直面する and held the glass to her lips.

"You are very 肉親，親類d—all of you," she said, smiling wanly. She drank from the glass, and reaching out a small white 手渡す, laid it very prettily upon Hanaud's big paw.

"That is better, eh? I come to the 救助（する） once more. So! now, mademoiselle, listen to me! I dot the last T with a big, neat, pleasant dot, and we all go home to bed."

He gazed 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, 集会 attention, beaming with satisfaction.

"Listen! I have had it in my mind that all this 罰金 courage of mademoiselle, her devotion to her friend, and her terrible 苦しめる, must not 行方不明になる their fulfilment. It was to save her friend, Diana Tasborough, that she ran these 危険s. 井戸／弁護士席, we of the police shall do our part too. That コマドリ Webster planned to 誘惑する Diana into his spider—web of wickedness, that Joyce Whipple took her place—yes, that must be told. But the tale shall end there. コマドリ Webster and the Vicomte de Mirandol are on their 裁判，公判 for the 殺人 of Evelyn Devenish and the 試みる／企てる upon Joyce Whipple—and, believe me, they have more upon their 手渡すs than they can manage. You shall 信用 to us, mademoiselle."

He rose from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, 発射する／解雇するd the account, and walked 支援する with his little party into the town. Or, rather, he walked with Julius Ricardo. For the other pair lagged behind. Hanaud drew Ricardo's attention to their slow progression with a good many chuckles, and digs with his 肘, and playful archnesses; all of which were やめる detestable to one of Mr. Ricardo's nicety. But Hanaud's manner changed altogether when the four of them stood together in the street under the lamp of the hotel. He took off his hat as Joyce thanked him in warm and trembling トンs, and with a 広大な／多数の／重要な 簡単 he said to her:

"Mademoiselle, I have served."

"The 囚人 In The Opal," Hodder & Stoughton paperback 版, 1953

THE END

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