Celie, but I am not wicked--" "Nor for the fact that the sirop and the lemonade had not been touched in the dining-room," said the Commissaire, interrupting her.
Again the disappointment overspread Vauquier's face.
"Is that so ?" she asked.

"I did not know--I have been kept a prisoner here." The Commissaire cut her short with a cry of satisfaction.
"Listen! listen!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"Here is a theory which accounts for all, which combines Vauquier's idea with ours, and Vauquier's idea is, I think, very just, up to a point.

Suppose, M.
Hanaud, that the girl was going to meet her lover, but the lover is the murderer.

Then all becomes clear.