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Updated: June 21, 2025
The thought flashed through my mind that Madame X. and the mysterious Frenchwoman might be one and the same person. Then I put aside the idea as absurd. Sereno Hornblower would never accept such a client. "Mr. Vantine did buy such a cabinet," I said. "And it is in your possession?"
"He is at the Vantine house," I explained, and sat down beside him. "This is Mr. Lester," he said, and the veiled lady opposite him, whom I had known at once to be the mistress, inclined her head a little. Those were the only words spoken. The carriage rolled out to Broadway and then turned northward, making such progress as was possible along that crowded thoroughfare.
"It's trying work," he said, sitting down again and mopping his face. "But isn't it a beauty, Lester? The more I look at it, the more wonderful it seems." "I told Philip Vantine I wasn't up to it, and I'm not," I said. "Nor I, but I can appreciate it to the extent of my capacity. It's the Louis Fourteenth ideal of beauty splendour carried to the nth degree.
"I should say not," he agreed, and turned away to an inspection of the room. "What can you tell us about it, Mr. Lester?" Goldberger questioned. I told all I knew how Parks had announced a man's arrival, how Vantine and I had come downstairs together, how Vantine had called me, and finally how Parks had identified the body as that of the strange caller. "Have you any theory about it?"
"There aren't any relatives," I said; "at least, no near ones. Vantine was the last of this branch of the family. I happen to know that our firm has been named as his executors in his will, so, if there is no objection, I'll take charge of things." "Very well, Mr. Lester," said Grady again; and then he looked at me. "Do you know the provisions of the will?" he asked. "I do."
And we will see if Crochard is really invincible!" "I'll keep it," I agreed, "because I think the letter is just a blind. And, by the way," I added, "I have a letter from Armand & Son confirming the fact that their books show that the Boule cabinet was bought by Philip Vantine. Under the circumstances, I shall have to claim it and hand it over to the Metropolitan."
I wondered why the maid should seem more upset than her mistress, and decided finally that her uneasiness was merely lack of breeding. But the contrast interested me. At Tenth Street, the carriage turned westward again, skirted Washington Square, turned into the Avenue, and stopped before the Vantine house. Mr. Hornblower assisted the women to alight, and I led the way up the steps.
Now the fact that Vantine had accidentally come into possession of a Boule cabinet would probably seem negligible to Grady, whereas it is the one big essential fact in this whole case. And it was you who saw it." "You saw it, too," I pointed out, "as soon as I mentioned it." "Yes; but you mentioned it in a way which made its importance manifest. I couldn't help seeing it.
Goldberger asked. "How long a time elapsed after Parks announced the man before you and Mr. Vantine came downstairs?" "Half an hour, perhaps." Goldberger nodded. "Let's have Parks in," he said. I opened the door and called to Parks, who was sitting on the bottom step of the stair. Goldberger looked him over carefully as he stepped into the room; but there could be no two opinions about Parks.
The police had discovered practically no new evidence; none, certainly, which shed any light on the way in which Drouet and Philip Vantine had met death. Each of the witnesses told his story much as I have told it here, and it was evident that the jury was bewildered by the seemingly inextricable tangle of circumstances. To my relief, Drouet's identity was established without any help from me.
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