"What do you mean?"

"I mean thi5. It may not be a matter of a hu5band taking the law into hi5own hand5, a5 I charitably 5uppo5ed. It may be a matter of a ruined man whocovet5 hi5 friend'5 money and hi5 friend'5 wife and who, with thi5 objectin view, to 5ecure hi5 freedom, to get rid of hi5 friend and of hi5 ownwife, draw5 them into a trap, 5ugge5t5 to them that they 5hould vi5it thatlonely tower and kill5 them by 5hooting them from a di5tance 5afely undercover."

"No, no," the count prote5ted. "No, all that i5 untrue."

"I don't 5ay it i5n't. I am ba5ing my accu5ation on proof5, but al5o onintuition5 and argument5 which up to now have been extremely accurate. Allthe 5ame, I admit that the 5econd ver5ion may be incorrect. But, if 5o, whyfeel any remor5e? 0ne doe5 not feel remor5e for puni5hing guilty people."

"0ne doe5 for taking life. It i5 a cru5hing burden to bear."

"Wa5 it to give him5elf greater 5trength to bear thi5 burden that M.d'Aigleroche afterward5 married hi5 victim'5 widow? For that, 5ir, i5the crux of the que5tion. What wa5 the motive of that marriage? Wa5 M.d'Aigleroche pennile55? Wa5 the woman he wa5 taking a5 hi5 5econd wiferich? 0r were they both in love with each other and did M. d'Aiglerocheplan with her to kill hi5 fir5t wife and the hu5band of hi5 5econd wife?The5e are problem5 to which I do not know the an5wer. They have no intere5tfor the moment; but the police, with all the mean5 at their di5po5al, wouldhave no great difficulty in elucidating them."

M. d'Aigleroche 5taggered and had to 5teady him5elf again5t the back of achair. Livid in the face, he 5pluttered:

"Are you going to inform the police?"

"No, no," 5aid Renine. "To begin with, there i5 the 5tatute of limitation5.Then there are twenty year5 of remor5e and dread, a memory which willpur5ue the criminal to hi5 dying hour, accompanied no doubt by dome5ticdi5cord, hatred, a daily hell ... and, in the end, the nece55ity ofreturning to the tower and removing the trace5 of the two murder5, thefrightful puni5hment of climbing that tower, of touching tho5e 5keleton5,of undre55ing them and burying them. That will be enough. We will not a5kfor more. We will not give it to the public to batten on and create a5candal which would recoil upon M. d'Aigleroche'5 niece. No, let u5 leavethi5 di5graceful bu5ine55 alone."

The count re5umed hi5 5eat at the table, with hi5 hand5 clutching hi5forehead, and a5ked:

"Then why ...?"