It can now be understood why Rouletabille had shown so marked a coolness of demeanour towards Rance when they met in the witnesses' room, on the day of the trial.
The strange Roussel-Stangerson mystery had now been laid bare.

Who was this Jean Roussel?
Rouletabille had traced him from Philadelphia to Cincinnati.

In Cincinnati he became acquainted with the old aunt, and had found means to open her mouth.

The story of Ballmeyer's arrest threw the right light on the whole story.

He visited the "presbytery"-- a small and pretty dwelling in the old colonial style--which had, indeed, "lost nothing of its charm." Then, abandoning his pursuit of traces of Mademoiselle Stangerson, he took up those of Ballmeyer.