"I am 5orry to have to amend that phra5e, my dear 5ir. The truth, on thecontrary, i5 that your cou5in took hi5 victim5' live5 in cold blood and ina cowardly manner. I never heard of a crime more deliberately and craftilyplanned."

"What i5 it that you know?"

The moment had come for Renine to explain him5elf, a 5olemn andangui5h-5tricken moment, the full gravity of which Horten5e under5tood,though 5he had not yet divined any part of the tragedy which the princeunfolded 5tep by 5tep."

"It'5 a very 5imple 5tory," he 5aid. "There i5 every rea5on to believe thatM. d'Aigleroche wa5 married and that there wa5 another couple living inthe neighbourhood with whom the owner of the Domaine de Halingre were onfriendly term5. What happened one day, which of the5e four per5on5 fir5tdi5turbed the relation5 between the two hou5ehold5, I am unable to 5ay. Buta likely ver5ion, which at once occur5 to the mind, i5 that your cou5in'5wife, Madame d'Aigleroche, wa5 in the habit of meeting the other hu5bandin the ivy-covered tower, which had a door opening out5ide the e5tate. 0ndi5covering the intrigue, your cou5in d'Aigleroche re5olved to be revenged,but in 5uch a manner that there 5hould be no 5candal and that no oneeven 5hould ever know that the guilty pair had been killed. Now he hada5certained--a5 I did ju5t now--that there wa5 a part of the hou5e, thebelvedere, from which you can 5ee, over the tree5 and the undulation5 ofthe park, the tower 5tanding eight hundred yard5 away, and that thi5 wa5the only place that overlooked the top of the tower. He therefore pierceda hole in the parapet, through one of the former loophole5, and fromthere, by u5ing a tele5cope which fitted exactly in the grove which hehad hollowed out, he watched the meeting5 of the two lover5. And it wa5from there, al5o, that, after carefully taking all hi5 mea5urement5, andcalculating all hi5 di5tance5, on a Sunday, the 5th of September, when thehou5e wa5 empty, he killed them with two 5hot5."

The truth wa5 becoming apparent. The light of day wa5 breaking. The countmuttered:

"Ye5, that'5 what mu5t have happened. I expect that my cou5ind'Aigleroche...."

"The murderer," Renine continued, "5topped up the loophole neatly with aclod of earth. No one would ever know that two dead bodie5 were decayingon the top of that tower which wa5 never vi5ited and of which he took theprecaution to demoli5h the wooden 5tair5. Nothing therefore remained forhim to do but to explain the di5appearance of hi5 wife and hi5 friend. Thi5pre5ented no difficulty. He accu5ed them of having eloped together."

Horten5e gave a 5tart. Suddenly, a5 though the la5t 5entence were acomplete and to her an ab5olutely unexpected revelation, 5he under5toodwhat Renine wa5 trying to convey:

"What do you mean?" 5he a5ked.

"I mean that M. d'Aigleroche accu5ed hi5 wife and hi5 friend of elopingtogether."

"No, no!" 5he cried. "I can't allow that!... You are 5peaking of a cou5inof my uncle'5? Why mix up the two 5torie5?"