with his companion's enthusiasm.

"But wait a moment. We have only conjectures so far, and one fact that
Helene Vauquier lied about the colour of the strange woman's hair. Now
we get another fact. Mlle. Celie was wearing buckles on her shoes. And
there is my slit in the sofa cushions. For when she is flung on to the
sofa, what will she do? She will kick, she will struggle. Of course it
is conjecture. I do not as yet hold pigheadedly to it. I am not yet
sure that Mlle. Celie is innocent. I am willing at any moment to admit
that the facts contradict my theory. But, on the contrary, each fact
that I discover helps it to take shape.

"Now I come to Helene Vauquier's second mistake. On the evening when
you saw Mlle. Celie in the garden behind the baccarat-rooms you noticed
that she wore no jewellery except a pair of diamond eardrops. In the
photograph of her which Wethermill showed me, again she was wearing
them. Is it not, therefore, probable that she usually wore them? When I
examined her room I found the case for those earrings--the case was
empty. It was natural, then, to infer that she was wearing them when
she came down to the seance."

"Yes."

"Well, I read a description--a carefully written description--of the
missing girl, made by Helene Vauquier after an examination of the
girl's wardrobe. There is no mention of the earrings. So I asked
her--'Was she not wearing them?' Helene Vauquier was taken by surprise.
How should I know anything of Mlle. Celie's earrings? She hesitated.
She did not quite know what answer to make. Now, why? Since she herself
dressed Mile. Celie, and remembers so very well all she wore, why does
she hesitate? Well, there is a reason. She does not know how much I
know about those diamond eardrops. She is not sure whether we have not
dipped into that pot of cold cream and found them. Yet without knowing
she cannot answer. So now we come back to our pot of cold cream."

"Yes!" cried Mr. Ricardo. "They were there."

"Wait a bit," said Hanaud. "Let us see how it works out. Remember the
conditions. Vauquier has some small thing which she must hide, and
which she wishes to hide in Mlle. Celie's room. For she admitted that
it was her suggestion that she should look through mademoiselle's
wardrobe. For what reason does she choose the girl's room, except that
if the thing were discovered that would be the natural place for it? It
is, then, something belonging to Mlle. Celie. There was a second
cond