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PAGE SIX OSHAWA, ONTARIO, SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1922 E-- ------------ At the "Villa Rose" | BY A. E. W. MASON OHAPTER XXI--Continuned , , "Now, at that time T nad an open mind about Vauquier. On the whole I was inclined to think she had no share in the affair, But either she or Mlle. Celie had, and perhaps both, But one of them---yes, That was sure, Therefore I asked what draw- ors she touched after the Commis- saire had leaned out of the window, "For if ghe had any motive in wishing to visit the room she would have satisfied it when the Commis- saire's back was turned. He pointed to a drawer. and I took out a dress and shook it, thinking that she may have wished to hide something, But nothing tell out, "On the other mand, however, I had some quite-fresh grease marks, made by fingers, and the marks were wet. I began to ask myself how it was that Helene Vauquier, who had Just heen helped to dress hy the nurse had grease upon her fingers, Then 1 looked at the drawer which she had examined first of a!l, There were no grease marks on the clothes she Lud turned ever before the Com- missaire leaned out of the window. Therctore it followed that during the few sceonds when he was witching me she had touched grease, I looked @hout Helene Vauquier; but 1 jocked dressing table close by the chest of drawers was a pot of cold cream, That waa the grease Helen Vanguier had touched. And why--it not to hide some small thing in it which, firstly, she dared not keep in her own room; which, secondly, she wished to hide in the roam of Mle. Celie; and which, thirdly, she had not had an opportunity to hide before? Now bear those three conditions in mind, and tell me what the small thing was," Mr. Ricardo nodded his head. "I know now," he said. 'You told me. The earrings of Mlle. Celie, But I should not have guessed it at the time." "Nor could I---at the time," said Hanwad. "I kept my open mind about Helene Vauquier; but I locketd the door and took the key, Then we went and heard Vauquier's story. The story wah clever, because so much of it was obviously, indispita- bly true. Tne account of the seances, of Mme. Dauvray's superstitions, her desire for an interview with Mme. de Montespan--such details are in- vented. It was interesting, too, to know that there had heen a seance planned for that night. The method of the murder began to be clear. So far she spoke the truth, But then she lied. Yes, she lied, and it was a bad lie, my friend. She told us that the strange woman Adele had black hair. Now I carried in my pocketbook proof that that woman's hair was red. Why did she lie, except to make impossible the identification of that strange visitor? That was the first false step taken by Helene Vauquier. "Now let us take the second. I thought nothing of her rancour against Mlle. Celie, To me it was all natural. She--the hard peasant woman no longer young, who had been for years the confidential ser- vant of Mme. Dauvray, and no doubt had taken her levy from the impos- tors who preyed upon her credulous mistress--eertainly she would hate this young and pretty outcast whom she has to wait. upon, whose hair she has to dress. Vauquier--she would hate her. "But if by any chanee she were in the plot--and the lie seemed to show she was then the seances showed me new possibilities. For Helene used to help Mlle. Celie, Sup- pose that the seance had taken place, that this sceptical visitor with the red hair professed herself dissatis- fied with Vauquier's method of test- ing the medium, had suggested an- other way, Mlle, Celie could not ob- ject, and there she would be neatly and securely packed up heyond the power of offering any resistance, bhe- fore she could have a suspicion that things were wrong. It would be an easy little comedy to play. And if that were true--why, there were my sofa cushions partly explained." "Yes, I gee," cried Ricardo, with enthusiasm. 'You are wonderful." Hanuad was not displeased with his coppanion's enthusiasm. "But wait a moment. We have only conjectures so far, and no fact that Helene Vauquier lied about the color of the strange woman's hair, Now we get another fact. Mlle, Celie was wearing buckles on her shoes, Adele too when she And there is my slit in the spfa cush- ions. For when she is flung on to| the sofa, what will she do? She will | kick, she will struggle. | "Of course it is conjecture. I do| not as yet hold pig-headedly to it. | I am not yet sure that Mlle. Celie] is innocent. I am willing at any mo- | ment to admit that the facts con- | contrary, each fact I discover helps' contrary, each faci 1 dislover helps it to take shape, . 'Now I come to Helene Vauquier's | second mistake, On the evening | when yoy saw Mlle. Celle in tne gar-| den behind the baccarat rooms you | noticed that she wore no jewelry ex-! ¢ept a pair of diamond eardrops. In| che photograph of her which Weth- ermill showed me, again she was] wearing them. Is it not therefore probable that she usually wore! them? | When I examined her room I; found the case for those earrings-- | the case was empty. It was natural,' then. to infer that she was wearing | them when she came down to the carefully written deseription--of the missing girl, made by Helene Vau- quier, after an examination of the girls wardrobe. There is no men- tion of the earrings so I asked her-- bered her hesitation Marthe Gobin's letter. to confirm me in my theory, that ehe was in the plot; and they made me very sure that it was an Adele for whom we had to look. So far well, "But other statements in the letter puzzled me. For instance, she ran lightly and quickly across the pave- ment into the house. as though she were afraid to he seen.' Those were the words, and the woman was ob- viously honest. What became of my theory then? The girl was free to run, free to stoop and pick up the train of her gown in her hand, free to shout for help in the open street if she yanted help. '*No; that 1 could not explain until that afternooh, when 1 saw Mlle, Celie's terrvor-stricken eyes fixed up on that flask, as Lemerre poured a little out and burnt a hole in the sack. Then I' understood © well enough. The fear of vitriol!" Han- anud gave an uneasy shudder. "And it is enough to make any one afraid! That I can tell you, No wonder she lay still as a mouse upon the sofa in the bedroom. No wonder she ran quickly into the house. "Well," there you have the explan- ation. I had only my tneory to work upon even after Mme, Gohin's evi- dence, But as it happened it wis the right one, "Meanwhile, of course. I made ny inquiries into Wethermill"s circum- stances, 'My good friends in Eng- | land helped me. They were precar-' ious. He owed money in Aix, money at, his hotel. We knew from the motor car that the man we were searching for had returned to Aix. Things began to look black for Wethermill, Then you gave me a little piece of information." | "1! exclaimed Ricardo, with a lit was a new road-book, which, by the way, he bought a week and 1 was asking myself all the while--now what was 1 asking my are hidden. She cannot answer, for her mouth, of course. is stopped. She has to write., Thus my con- Jectures get more and more suppert. "And, mind this, one of the two women is guilty--Celie or Vauquier. My discoveries all fit in with the theory! of Cdlie's innocence. - But there remain the footprints, for which I found no explanation. "You will rememner 1 made you all promise silence as to the finding of Mme. Dauvray's jewelry. For I thought, if they hdve taken the girl away so that suspicion may fall on her and not on Vauquier, they mean to dispose of her. Bw they may keep her so long as they have a chance of finding out from her Mme, Dauvray's hiding place. It was a small chance, but our only one. The moment the discovery of the jewelry was published the girl's fate was sealed, were my theory true. "Then came our advertisement and Mme, Gobin's written testimony. There was one small point of inter- est which I will take first: her state- ment that Adele was the Christian name of the woman with .the red hair. that the old woman who was the servant in that house in the sub- urb of Geneva, called her Adele, just simply Adele, That interested me, for Helene Vauquier had called her was describing to us the unknown visitor, 'Adele' was what Mme. Dauvray called her," "Yes." sald Richardo, "Helene Vau- quier made a slip rere. She should have given her a false name." Hanaud nodded. "It is the one #)ip she made in the whole of the business. Nor did she recover her- self very cleverly, For when the Commissaire pounced upon the name she at once modified her words, She only thought now that the name was Adele, or something like it. But when I went on to suggest that the name in any ease would be a false one, at once she went hack upon her modifications, "And now she was when I read They helped | discovered the motor car I suggested | that we should go to Harry Wether-| mill's rooms and talk it over--that| glance enabled me to see that. he could very easily have got out of] his room onto the veranda below | and escaped from the hotel by the' garden, quite unseen. | "For you will remember that| whereas your rooms look out to the| front and on to the slope of Mont| Revard, Wethermill"s look out over the garden and the town of Aix. In a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes he could nave reached the Villa Rose. He could have been in| the salon before half-past ten, and that is just the hour which suited me perfectly. And, as he got out unnoticed. so he could return. So he did return. "My friend there are some inter- esting marks upon the windowsill of Wethermill's room and upon the pillar just beneath it, Take a look, M. Ricardo, when you return to your hotel. But that was not all. We talked of Geneva in Mr. Wethermill's room, and of the distance between Geneva and Aix. Do you remember that?" "Yes," replied Ricardo. "Do you remember, too, asked him for a road-hook?" "Yes; to make sure of the tance, 1 do." "Ah, but it was not te make sure of the distance that I asked for the road-hook my friend. I asked in order to find uy whether Harry Wethermill had a which gave a plan of the roads be- tween here and Geneva, And he had. He handed it to me at once and quite naturally, "I hope that 1 took it ealmly. but was not at all calm inside. For that 1 dis- start, . "Yes, You told me that you walked up to the hotel with Harry Wethermill on the night of the mur- self, M. Richardo?" der and separated just hefore ten, "No," said Richardo with a smile sure that --you will rémember that when wel you what youn were asking yourself road-hook at all hefore, | at the station. As I told you, he left his glove behind. "He was gearching for a téle- gram. in answer to your advertise- ment. Or he came to sound you. He had already received his telegram from Hippolyte. He was like a fox in -a cage snapping at everyone, twisting vainly this way and that way, risking everything and every- one to save his precious neck. Marthe Gobin was in the way. She is killed. Mlle. Celie is a danger. So Mlle. Celie must be suppressed. "And oc goes a telegram to the Geneva paper, handed in by a walter from the cafe at the station of Chambery before five o'elock. Weth- ermill went to Chambery that after- noon when he went to Geneva, Once we could get him on the run, once we could so harry and bustle hin that he must take risks----why we had him. And that afternoon lh had to take them." "So that even before Marthe (H- bin was killed you were sure that Wethermill was the murderer?" Hanaud's face clouded over, (Continued on page 8) M. Hanaud. For even were I right you would make out that I was wrong, and leap upon me with in- juries and gibes, No, you shall drink your coffee and tell me of your own accord." "Well," said Hanaud. laughing, "I will tell you. I was asking myself 'Why does a man who owns no motor-car, who hires no motor-car, go out in Aix and buy an automo- bilists road-map? With what ob ject?' And 1 found it an interesting question, M. Harry Wethermill was not the man to go upon a walk- ing tour, eh? -Oh, | was obtaining evidence, "But then came an overwhelming thing--the murder of Marthe Gobin. We know now how he did it. He walked beside thé cab, put his head in at the window, asked, 'Have yon come in answer io the advertise- ment?' and stabbed her straight to the heart through the dress. The dress and the weapon whith he used would save him from being stained with her blood. He was in your room that morning, when we were Dhrt lie Jrolet! YOU want genuine Maple Buds--not cheap substi- tutes which imitate the shape and name, but lack the qua- lity and flavor of real Maple Buds. Adele was the name used. I remem-| A glance into his room which I had | "I am growing wary. I will not tell May Records are Here---- When buying Maple Buds look for the name "COWAN." It is stamped on each piece. Come in and hear the latest in popular Dance and Spng Records A COMPLETE LINE OF RED SEAL RECORDS STOCKED D. A. Tait's Music Store Queen's Hotel Block Phone 1138j Simcoe St. North 'Was she not wearing them?' Hel- ene Vauquier was taken by surprise. How should I know anything of Mlle, Celie's earrings?" "She hesitated. She did not quite know what answer to make, Now, why? Since she herself dress- ed Mle. Celie, and remembers so very well all she wore, why does she hesitate? Well there is a reason." "She does not know how much I know about those diamond eardrops. She is not sure whether we have not dipped into that pov of cold cream and found them. Yet without know- ing she cannot answer. So now we come back to our pot of cold cream." "Yes," cried Mr, Ricardo. "They were there." "Wait a bit," said Hanaud. "Let us see how it works out. Remember the conditions. Vauquier has some small thing which she must hide, Victrola New console models and which she wishes to hide in Mlle. Celie's room. For she admitted that it was her suggestion that she should | look through mademoiselle's ward- robe. For what irgason does she choose the girl's room except that if | the thing were discevered that would | be the natural place or it? It is, then, something belonging to Mlle. Celie. There was a second condition we laid down. It was something Vauquier had not been able to hide before. ~#It came, then, into her possession last night. Why could she not hide it last night? Because she was not alone. There were the man and the woman, her accomplices. It was something then which she was con- cerned in hiding from them. It is not rash to guess, then, that it was some piece of the plunder of which the other two would have claimed their share--and a piece of plunder belonging to hiile. Celie. Well, she has mothing but the diamond ear- drops." . "Suppose Vauquier is left alone to guard Mlle. Celie while, the other two ransack Mme. Dauvray's room. She sées her chance. The girl cannot | stir hand or foot to save herself. Vauquier tears the eardrops in a hurry from her ears--and there I have my drop of blood just where I should expect it to be. But now follow this! Vauquier hides the ear- riugs in her pocket. She goes io bed in order w be chloroformed." "She knows it is wvery possible that her room will be searched be- fore she regains consciousness. or before she is well enpugh to move. There is only one place to hide them in, only one place where they will bo safe. In bed with her. But in the morning she must get rid of them, snd a nurse is with her. Hence the excuse to go to Mille. Celie"s room. If the eandrops are found in the pot of cold cream it would only be thought that Mile. Celie had herself hidden them there for safety. Again it is conjecture, and I wish to make sure. "So 1 tell Yanguier that she can g0 away and 1 leave her unwatched. I have her driven to the depot in- stead of to Mer friends, and searched. Upon her is found the pot of cold cream and in the cream Mile. Celie's eardrops. She has slipped into Mile. | Celie"s room as, if my theory was correct, she would be sure to do, and put the pot of cream into her pocket. So I am now fairly sure that she is concerned in the murder. "We then went to Mme. Dauvray's. room and discovered her brilliants and her ornaments. At once the meaning of that agitated piece of hand writing of Mlle. 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