in this business, some words which Mlle. Darcieux
used made me suspect that direction which my investigations must take.
'I was not quite five years old when my mother died,' she said. 'That
was sixteen years ago.' Mlle. Darcieux, therefore, was nearly
twenty-one, that is to say, she was on the verge of attaining her
majority. I at once saw that this was an important detail. The day on
which you reach your majority is the day on which your accounts are
rendered. What was the financial position of Mlle. Darcieux, who was her
mother's natural heiress? Of course, I did not think of the father for a
second. To begin with, one can't imagine a thing like that; and then the
farce which M. Darcieux was playing ... helpless, bedridden, ill...."

"Really ill," interrupted the doctor.

"All this diverted suspicion from him ... the more so as I believe that
he himself was exposed to criminal attacks. But was there not in the
family some person who would be interested in their removal? My journey
to Paris revealed the truth to me: Mlle. Darcieux inherits a large
fortune from her mother, of which her step-father draws the income. The
solicitor was to have called a meeting of the family in Paris next
month. The truth would have been out. It meant ruin to M. Darcieux."

"Then he had put no money by?"

"Yes, but he had lost a great deal as the result of unfortunate
speculations."

"But, after all, Jeanne would not have taken the management of her
fortune out of his hands!"

"There is one detail which you do not know, doctor, and which I learnt
from reading the torn letter. Mlle. Darcieux is in love with the brother
of Marceline, her Versailles friend; M. Darcieux was opposed to the
marriage; and--you now see the reason--she was waiting until she came of
age to be married."

"You're right," said the doctor, "you're right.... It meant his ruin."

"His absolute ruin. One chance of saving himself remained, the death of
his step-daughter, of whom he is the next heir."

"Certainly, but on condition that no one suspected him."

"Of course; and that is why he contrived the series of accidents, so
that the death might appear to be due to misadventure. And that is why
I, on my side, wishing to bring things to a head, asked you to tell him
of Mlle. Darcieux's impending departure. From that moment, it was no
longer enough for the would-be sick man to wander about the grounds and
the passages, in the dark, and execute some leisurely thoug