"I do not say that she had been married in France. She may have been married abroad--in England, perhaps. He took her to England soon after they became acquainted. It was the first time she left Paris with him; and until then I know she had been as distant to him as if she had been the Empress. In England there are no obstacles to marriage; there is no one's consent to be asked." "We will admit that a marriage in a foreign country would have been possible. But this Maxime de Maucroix, this second admirer----" "Was only an admirer. My daughter's life was not a disreputable life. I have nothing to reproach myself with upon that score." "Can you help us to find this man Georges, whom you suspect as the murderer? Do you know where he is to be found?" "If I did, the police would have known before now. I tell you I know nothing about him--absolutely nothing. I have seen and heard nothing of him since the murder. He has not been to my daughter's apartment since her death--he was not at her funeral. He who pretended to adore her did not follow her to her grave. All Paris was there; but he who was supposed to be her husband was not there." "How can you tell that he was not there, since you do not know his appearance?" "Barbe Girot knows him. It is on her authority that I say he was not there." "I will trouble you with no further questions to-day, madame. I will take Barbe Girot's evidence next." Barbe Girot's evidence was to the effect that for nearly four years this Monsieur Georges had been a constant visitor at her mistress's apartment. He had come there after the theatre, and it had been Barbe's duty to leave the supper-table laid, and the candles ready on the chimney-piece and table, before she went to bed. Madame Georges let herself in with a latch-key, and Barbe rarely sat up for her. Madame did not always return to the Rue Lafitte for supper. There were occasions when she supped on the Boulevard, or in the Bois, and returned to her apartment at a very late hour. Barbe saw Monsieur Georges occasionally, but not frequently. He was a handsome man, but not in his first youth. He might have been five or six and thirty. He was generous, and appeared to be rich. Whatever his fortune may have been, he would have given Madame the whole of it if she had asked him. There was never a man more passionately in love with a woman. After the Baron de Maucroix's appearance on the scene there were storms. Barbe had seen Monsieur Georges cry like a child. She had also seen him give way to violent passion. There had been one night when she thought that he would kill Madame. He had his hands upon her throat; he seemed as if he were going to strangle her. And then he fell on his knees, and grovelled at her feet. He implored her to forgive him. It was dreadful. Did Barbe Girot think that Monsieur Georges was Madame's husband?