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Rh "Yes, Monsieur."

"You can see anyone who goes out?"

"No one comes or goes that way that I do not know it, Monsieur."

"Did you see Peters when he left this morning?"

"No, Monsieur. That poltroon! Never did I like his eyes."

Odell started. Could that be what Gerda had meant? But why should she warn him when Peters had already disappeared?

"That he should run when women stay!" Marcelle continued in fine scorn. "He knew better than to go this way, for I should have stopped him. It must be that he used the front entrance. Bête!"

"Jane tells me that you helped her clean the rooms of young Mr. Chalmers after he died. Did you notice any marks upon the tub?"

"But yes, Monsieur. The marks of both the poor child's hands. It was terrible, that sight! It is not well to think of. Me, I am most sorry for poor Monsieur Gene."

"For Monsieur Gene," repeated the detective in astonishment. "Were he and his brother so inseparable, then?"

"It is not that, Monsieur; but the very night before Monsieur Julian died they have so wicked a quarrel! Me, I am a light sleeper and my room is just at the head of the stairs above them. On Tuesday evening I make a soufflé for dessert—and figure to yourself, it is a failure, it falls!" She paused dramatically. "I am disconsolate; for only an artist can make a soufflé, and I think that I am losing my skill. I have the headache and I am sick in my