At the Villa RoseMason, A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley)
General
At the Villa Rose
Mason, A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley)
Detective and mystery stories; Fiction
But in the morning she must get rid of them, and a nurse is
with her. Hence the excuse to go to Mlle. Celie's room. If the eardrops
are found in the pot of cold cream, it would only be thought that Mlle.
Celie had herself hidden them there for safety. Again it is conjecture,
and I wish to make sure. So I tell Vauquier she can go away, and I
leave her unwatched. I have her driven to the depot instead of to her
friends, and searched. Upon her is found the pot of cream, and in the
cream Mlle. Celie's eardrops. She has slipped into Mlle. Celie's room,
as, if my theory was correct, she would be sure to do, and put the pot
of cream into her pocket. So I am now fairly sure that she is concerned
in the murder.
"We then went to Mme. Dauvray's room and discovered her brilliants and
her ornaments. At once the meaning of that agitated piece of
hand-writing of Mlle. Celie's becomes clear. She is asked where the
jewels are hidden. She cannot answer, for her mouth, of course, is
stopped. She has to write. Thus my conjectures get more and more
support. And, mind this, one of the two women is guilty--Celie or
Vauquier. My discoveries all fit in with the theory of Celie's
innocence. But there remain the footprints, for which I found no
explanation.
"You will remember I made you all promise silence as to the finding of
Mme. Dauvray's jewellery. For I thought, if they have taken the girl
away so that suspicion may fall on her and not on Vauquier, they mean
to dispose of her. But they may keep her so long as they have a chance
of finding out from her Mme. Dauvray's hiding-place. It was a small
chance but our only one. The moment the discovery of the jewellery was
published the girl's fate was sealed, were my theory true.
"Then came our advertisement and Mme. Gobin's written testimony. There
was one small point of interest which I will take first: her statement
that Adele was the Christian name of the woman with the red hair, that
the old woman who was the servant in that house in the suburb of Geneva
called her Adele, just simply Adele. That interested me, for Helene
Vauquier had called her Adele too when she was describing to us the
unknown visitor. 'Adele' was what Mme. Dauvray called her."
"Yes," said Ricardo. "Helene Vauquier made a slip there. She should
have given her a false name."
Hanaud nodded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account