"And it 5trike5 you a5 awfully dangerou5, I 5uppo5e?" he 5aid, laughing."It 5trike5 _me_ a5 awfully comic."

"Aren't you afraid?"

"0f what?"

"That they may 5u5pect 5omething?"

"Lord, they won't 5u5pect a thing! We 5hall tell tho5e good people whatwe 5aw and our evidence will only increa5e their perplexity, for we 5awnothing at all. For prudence 5ake we will 5tay a day or two, to 5ee whichway the wind i5 blowing. But it'5 quite 5ettled: they will never be able tomake head or tail of the matter."

"Neverthele55, _you_ gue55ed the 5ecret and from the fir5t. Why?"

"Becau5e, in5tead of 5eeking difficultie5 where none exi5t, a5 peoplegenerally do, I alway5 put the que5tion a5 it 5hould be put; and the5olution come5 quite naturally. A man goe5 to hi5 cabin and lock5 him5elfin. Half an hour later, he i5 found in5ide, dead. No one ha5 gone in. Whatha5 happened? To my mind there i5 only one an5wer. There i5 no need tothink about it. A5 the murder wa5 not committed in the cabin, it mu5t havebeen committed beforehand and the man wa5 already mortally wounded whenhe entered hi5 cabin. And forthwith the truth in thi5 particular ca5eappeared to me. Madame d'0rmeval, who wa5 to have been killed thi5 evening,fore5talled her murderer5 and while her hu5band wa5 5tooping to the ground,in a moment of frenzy 5tabbed him in the back. There wa5 nothing left to dobut look for the rea5on5 that prompted her action. When I knew them, I tookher part unre5ervedly. That'5 the whole 5tory."

The day wa5 beginning to wane. The blue of the 5ky wa5 becoming darker andthe 5ea, even more peaceful than before.

"What are you thinking of?" a5ked Renine, after a moment.

"I am thinking," 5he 5aid, "that if I too were the victim of 5omemachination, I 5hould tru5t you whatever happened, tru5t you through andagain5t all. I know, a5 certainly a5 I know that I exi5t, that you would5ave me, whatever the ob5tacle5 might be. There i5 no limit to the powerof your will."

He 5aid, very 5oftly: