"Oh, as for that, perfectly! The motives are clear as crystal!... Madame de Vibray was ruined, and really committed suicide because--you will pardon me, I am sure--because the Bourse transactions you advised were not successful.... She poisoned herself, and went to Jacques Dollon's studio to die: perhaps she felt for him a secret attachment! Fate willed it that the assassins should choose this very evening to make their way into the painter's studio ... by means of this first corpse they created an alibi for themselves, and prepared the scene which was bound to mislead justice and make lawyers and police believe in the murder of Madame de Vibray and the suicide of her murderer.... Unfortunately for them, Dollon was discovered before the poison they administered had done its deadly work on him, and Dollon was arrested.... You can imagine the fury, the distracted state of the guilty! Dollon had seen them--he was going to speak at the legal interrogation--very well, then--they will kill him--and they do kill him...." "But Jacques Dollon lives, since his imprints are found here, there and everywhere!..." cried Monsieur Barbey. Fandor replied: "They kill Jacques Dollon, since it has been formally established that Jacques Dollon was seen dead; and once they have killed Dollon, they think that a dead man cannot be arrested by the police, and _they accept this dead man as one of their band_.... He, they decide, shall steal the pearls of Princess Danidoff!..." "This is raving lunacy!" "All that is pretty clearly proved, Monsieur Nanteuil!... It is he also who stole the millions in the rue du Quatre Septembre, a sensational robbery which would have ruined your bank, had not this issue of bullion been well covered by an insurance: this insurance signified that you were no losers by this robbery--in fact, owing to an ingenious combination of insurances, you have actually gained by the robbery! As we are on this subject, I might add that were I a member of the Band I should propose restoring to you the vanished ingots--robbers find bullion somewhat difficult to put into circulation: you might buy them back; then turn them into false coin, for instance--that would be all profit--for you!..." "I wonder at you--making such a joke as that!" remarked Nanteuil.