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Updated: June 21, 2025
"If he had opened the drawer," I pointed out, "and been killed in the act of opening it, it would have been found open. I had thought that perhaps it closed of itself, but you see that it does not. You have to push it shut, and then snap the handle up into place." "That's true," Godfrey assented, "and it sounds pretty conclusive. If it is true of Vantine, it is also true of Drouet.
What was the intrigue, of which it seemed to be the centre? Who was this man, that Godfrey should consider him so formidable? Why should he have chosen Philip Vantine for a victim? Godfrey came back while I was still groping blindly amid this maze of mystery. "It's all right," he said. "Simmonds is sending two of his best men to watch the house." He stood for a moment gazing down at the cabinet.
Vantine had said that he intended examining the cabinet in detail at the first opportunity; I remembered how his eyes had gleamed as he looked at it; how his hand had trembled as he caressed the arabesques. No doubt he was making that examination when he had heard a woman's cry and had gone out into the hall to see what the matter was.
And the thought flashed through my mind that perhaps in some way he had learned of the existence of the letters, and was trying desperately to get them. That thought was enough to swing the balance in his wife's favour. "I am sure," I said, "that Mr. Vantine would instantly have consented to your client opening the drawer and taking out the letters.
But when we have done it all, when we have all these facts in hand, I am afraid we shall find that they are utterly unimportant." "Unimportant?" I echoed. "But surely " "Unimportant because we don't want to know these things. What we want to know is how Philip Vantine and this unknown Frenchman were killed.
I looked over his shoulder and saw that it contained a single engraved line: M. THÉOPHILE D'AURELLE "Except that he's French, as Parks suggested," said Godfrey. "That's evident, too, from the cut of his clothes." "Yes, and from the cut of his hair," added Goldberger. "You say you didn't know him, Mr. Vantine?" "I never before saw him, to my knowledge," answered Vantine.
"He came to see me yesterday. I'd like you to meet him, Godfrey. He is Félix Armand, the 'son' of the firm, and one of the most finished gentlemen I ever met." "I'd like to meet him," said Godfrey, smiling queerly. "Perhaps I shall, some day; I hope so, anyway. But how did he explain the blunder, Lester?" "In some way, they shipped the wrong cabinet to Vantine.
"You will have to turn the cabinet over to him, of course?" "Why, yes, it belongs to him. At least, it doesn't belong to Vantine." He slipped the message into its envelope and handed it back to me. I could see that he was perplexed and upset. "Well, in spite of this," he said finally, "I am still interested in that cabinet, Lester, and I wish you would keep possession of it as long as you can.
"You will answer," he thundered, "or I'll commit you for contempt!" Godfrey was quite himself again. "Very well," he said, smiling. "I have not the slightest objection. But I would think it over, if I were you. Mr. Lester will assure you that the woman was in no way connected with the death either of Drouet or of Mr. Vantine."
When we find out who he is, we can probably guess at the nature of his business with Vantine. We can find out who the woman was who called to see Vantine to-night that is just a case of grilling Rogers; then we can run her down and get her secret out of her. We can find why Rogers is trying to shield her. All that is comparatively simple.
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