Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 4, 2025
She must be beside herself with grief." "Can I offer you my assistance? I am Prince Renine. This lady and I would be happy to call on Madame Aubrieux and to place our services at her disposal." The young man, upset by the news which he had read, seemed not to understand. He introduced himself awkwardly: "My name is Dutreuil, Gaston Dutreuil."
They all four climbed the five storys of the house and, after Dutreuil had opened the door, entered a tiny set of chambers consisting of a sitting-room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom, all arranged with fastidious neatness. It was easy to see that every chair in the sitting-room occupied a definite place. The pipes had a rack to themselves; so had the matches.
He hung up the receiver and turned to Dutreuil, laughing: "Ha, ha, my boy! Things are beginning to look clearer. What do you say?" It was difficult to tell what these words meant or what conclusions Renine had drawn from his conversation. The silence was painful and oppressive. "Mr. Chief-Inspector, you have some of your men outside, haven't you?" "Two detective-sergeants."
He walked up and down the room, assuming an air of gaiety and rubbing his hands. All was going so well! It was really a treat to take up a case which, so to speak, worked itself out automatically. "Suppose we went on to the prefecture, M. Morisseau? The chief must be there by now. And, having gone so far, we may as well finish. Will M. Dutreuil come with us?" "Why not?" said Dutreuil, arrogantly.
"She will kill herself," said Dutreuil, in a scared voice. "She will never be able to endure the idea that they are guillotining Jacques. She will kill herself presently ... this very night...." Renine was striding up and down the room. "You can do nothing for her, can you?" asked Hortense. "It's half-past eleven now," he replied, in an anxious tone, "and it's to happen to-morrow morning."
What would be the outcome of the experiment on which he was venturing? What resistance would Gaston Dutreuil offer? She lived through one of those minutes of superhuman tension in which life becomes intensified until it reaches its utmost value. They heard footsteps on the stairs, the footsteps of men in a hurry. The sound drew nearer. They were reaching the top floor.
"Yes," she said, "but it's a dangerous experiment. Do you think that Dutreuil will fall into the trap?" "Everything depends on the state of his nerves and the degree of demoralization to which he is reduced. A surprise attack may very well do for him." "Nevertheless, suppose he recognizes by some sign that the box has been changed?" "Oh, of course, he has a few chances in his favour!
Chief-inspector, since Prince Renine maintains that the notes have been put away upstairs, wouldn't the simplest thing be to go and look? M. Dutreuil will take us up, won't you?" "This minute," said the young man. "As you say, that will be simplest."
"God grant that it may be justified!" "We must go slowly," he said. "It is only an attempt, but a fine, a very fine attempt; and it may succeed." He was silent for a moment; then, with an amused smile and a click of the tongue, he said: "An infernally clever fellow, that Dutreuil! His trick of burning the notes: what a fertile imagination! And what coolness! A pretty dance the beggar has led me!
You killed Cousin Guillaume. You took the sixty bank-notes and left them at your rooms. And at five o'clock you went back to fetch the ladies." Dutreuil had listened with an expression at once mocking and flurried, casting an occasional glance at Inspector Morisseau as though to enlist him as a witness: "The man's mad," it seemed to say. "It's no use being angry with him."
Word Of The Day
Others Looking