"You do not perhaps know, Monsieur le Comte”—he paused—"that Madame Kettering was murdered?"
"Murdered? Mon Dieu, how terrible!"
The surprise and the sorrow were excellently done—so well done, indeed, as to seem wholly natural.
"Madame Kettering was strangled between Paris and Lyons," continued M. Carrège, "and her jewels were stolen."
"It is iniquitous!" cried the Count warmly; "the police should do something about these train bandits. Nowadays no one is safe."
"In Madame's handbag," continued the Judge, "we found a letter to her from you. She had, it seemed, arranged to meet you?"
The Count shrugged his shoulders and spread out his hands.
"Of what use are concealments," he said frankly.
"We are all men of the world. Privately and between ourselves, I admit the affair."
"You met her in Paris and travelled down with her, I believe?" said M. Carrège.
"That was the original arrangement, but by Madame's wish it was changed. I was to meet her at Hyères."
"You did not meet her on the train at the Gare de Lyon on the evening of the 14th?"
"On the contrary, I arrived in Nice on the morning of that day, so what you suggest is impossible."
"Quite so, quite so," said M. Carrège. "As a matter of form, you would perhaps give me an account of your movements during the evening and night of the 14th."
