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Thank you, M. Le Gautier. Not to waste your time, then, Ill begin without further preface. When did you last meet M. Felix?
As a matter of fact so do I, replied Lefarge. You get the air and the motion is pleasanter and more silent than a bus. They are not so slow either when you consider the stops.
I dont think it was Felix. I believe he was telling the truth all right. But we havent enough information yet to judge. Perhaps when we follow up the cask we shall be able to connect some of these men we saw to-day with it.
The managing director took the note and turned back into his private office to read it. He was puzzled. He had said at 11.15 he would be engaged for half an hour. Therefore, Mr. Felix would only have had fifteen minutes to wait. As he opened the envelope he wondered why that gentleman could not have spared this moderate time, after coming all the way from the docks to see him. And then he was puzzled again, for the envelope was empty!
Very good, then. As I said, I am a Frenchman, and I was born in Avignon in 1884. I was always keen on drawing, and, as my teachers thought there was promise in my work, I early moved to Paris and entered the atelier of M. Dauphin. I studied there for several years, living in a small hotel off the Boule Miche. My parents were both dead, and I had inherited a little moneynot much, but enough to live on.
An excellent testimonial, mademoiselle, La Touche commented. Pray excuse me for just a moment.
Lefarge smiled.
What? he cried. Whats that you say? A letter in my handwriting? I dont believe it! Its impossible!
Thats all right, gar?on. Heres your five francs.
We then went to the salon, but, as several visitors had already arrived, I could not, at that time, get a private word with Annette.
Sunday, 28th, nothing special occurred. M. Boirac unpacked the cask in the evening.
She has not gone to bed, monsieur, he answered.
I got back early this morning, and I was here before your office opened. Take that as the measure of my willingness to help.
Some of them. M. Dumarchez lives five doors from me in the rue de Vallorbes. M. Briant lives near the end of the rue Washington, where it turns into the Champs Elyses. The other addresses I cannot tell you off-hand, but I can help you to find them in a directory.
And Boirac?
Yes, he said, when Burnley had explained, in his somewhat halting French, what he wanted, I can tell you about that cask. He turned up some papers.
Between the study and the dining-room adjoining there was a door, evidently unused, as it was locked and the key was gone. On the study side this door was covered by a heavy curtain of dark-green plush. In front of the curtain, and standing with its back to it, was a small chair whose low, leather-padded back formed a half-circle with the arms. In his anxiety to leave no part of the carpet unexamined, Burnley had moved this chair aside.
Again, we know that a black-bearded man like Felix arranged the journeys of the cask. So far, Felix himself is the only black-bearded man we have found. On the other hand we have two strong points in Felixs favour. First, we have not been able to prove motive, and second, his surprise when the body was found in the cask appears to have been genuine. We have undoubtedly a good deal of evidence against Felix, but we must note that not only is this evidence circumstantial, but there is also evidence in his favour.
And how should I be able to tell him?
I thought of that first of all, monsieur, but I dismissed it as impossible for the following reasons. First, if she was murdered on Saturday night, what was done with the body? It could not have been put into the cask in the study, as I had thought at first, for that was full. The statue was not unpacked till two nights later, on Monday. We know, indeed, it was not put into the cask, for that was returned direct to Messrs. Dupierres and found to be empty. Secondly, it could not have been hidden anywhere else in the house, for Fran?ois and Suzanne made a thorough search on the Sunday, and the corpse would have been too big a thing for them to have overlooked. Further, if she was murdered in the house, either Felix, Boirac, or some third person or persons must have done it. Felix could hardly be the man, as I do not see how he could have removed the body without a confederate, and we have not found such. Boirac would perhaps have had more chances of disposing of the body, though I do not see how, but he had a complete alibi. Lastly, I felt strongly that Fran?ois, the butler, was to be believed. I could not imagine him party to the murder, and I did not see how it could have been done at the time you suggest without his knowledge.