“A few days prior to his tragic end poor Reggie had, as I have explained, moved over to the Grand at Nice, but, strangely enough, the same idea had occurred to this woman Fournereau. She preferred to live in Nice during Carnival, she told me, for she liked all the fun and gayety. Whether it was for that reason I know not, but at all events it seems clear, from inquiries recently completed in Nice, that one afternoon he met this woman at Rumpelmeyer’s, the fashionable lounge for afternoon tea, and in a sudden fit of anger declared that he would denounce her as an adventuress and swindler. Now it appears that her clients, the gamblers who frequent this place, number among them some of the most notorious and desperate members of the criminal fraternity, and the natural conclusion is that, fearing his exposure, she killed him.” “I deny it!” cried the wretched woman. “It is a false accusation which you cannot prove!” “The extreme care and marvellous ingenuity by which the young man’s death was encompassed is shown by every detail of the case. Not a single point, apparently, was overlooked. Even the means by which he was assassinated has remained until now a mystery. But, passing to the night of the tragedy, it will be remembered that he had won sixty thousand francs at roulette, and having left Miss Rosselli and her friends he re-entered the Rooms and changed his winnings into large notes. Half-an-hour before, this woman, whom I had met earlier in the evening, and who had dined with me at Ciro’s, had wished me good-by, and having previously watched his success at the tables, followed him into the Casino when he re-entered to change the notes. The interval of about an hour between his leaving Monte Carlo and his arrival at the Grand Hotel at Nice is still unaccounted for. Nevertheless, we know that this woman whom he had threatened travelled by the same train from Monte Carlo to Nice, that she entered the hotel a few minutes later and went to her room, and that next morning she had in her possession sixty notes, each for one thousand francs. It seems, however, that she quickly feared that suspicion might rest upon her, for the police had commenced active inquiries, and therefore resolved to get rid of the stolen notes. This she did with the aid of an accomplice, a man named Laumont, well known at Monte Carlo each season. This man, one of the habitués of this place, went to the Carnival ball at the Nice Casino and there gave Miss Rosselli the stolen money, intending that its possession should throw suspicion upon her. Some other members of this interesting gang of sharpers who make this place their head-quarters and who go south in winter in search of pigeons to pluck, knowing Laumont’s intention, posed as detectives, however, and to them Miss Rosselli innocently handed over the notes she had received.” He paused for a moment, then continued: