"Yes, monsieur," replied Perrichet.
"We may assume, then, that Mlle. Celie was changing her dress at
that time."
Besnard was looking about him, opening a drawer here, a wardrobe
there.
"Mlle. Celie," he said, with a laugh, "was a particular young
lady, and fond of her fine clothes, if one may judge from the room
and the order of the cupboards. She must have changed her dress
last night in an unusual hurry."
There was about the whole room a certain daintiness, almost, it
seemed to Mr. Ricardo, a fragrance, as though the girl had
impressed something of her own delicate self upon it. Wethermill
stood upon the threshold watching with a sullen face the violation
of this chamber by the officers of the police.
No such feelings, however, troubled Hanaud. He went over to the
dressing-room and opened a few small leather cases which held
Celia's ornaments. In one or two of them a trinket was visible;
others were empty. One of these latter Hanaud held open in his
hand, and for so long that Besnard moved impatiently.
"You see it is empty, monsieur," he said, and suddenly Wethermill
moved forward into the room.
"Yes, I see that," said Hanaud dryly.
It was a case made to hold a couple of long ear-drops--those
diamond ear-drops, doubtless, which Mr. Ricardo had seen twinkling
in the garden.
"Will monsieur let me see?" asked Wethermill, and he took the case
in his hands. "Yes," he said. "Mlle. Celie's ear-drops," and he
handed the case back with a thoughtful air.
It was the first time he had taken a definite part in the
investigation. To Ricardo the reason was clear. Harry Wethermill
had himself given those ear-drops to Celia. Hanaud replaced the
case and turned round.
"There is nothing more for us to see here," he said. "I suppose
that no one has been allowed to enter the room?" And he opened the
door.
"No one except Helene Vauquier," replied the Commissaire.
Ricardo felt indignant at so obvious a piece of carelessness. Even
Wethermill looked surprised. Hanaud merely shut the door again.
"Oho, the maid!" he said. "Then she has recovered!"
"She is still weak," said the Commissaire. "But I thought it was
necessary that we should obtain at once a description of what
Celie Harland wore when she left the house. I spoke to M. Fleuriot
about it, and he gave me permission to bring Helene Vauquier here,
who alone could tell us. I brought her here myself just before you
came. She looked through the girl's wardrobe to see what was
missing."
"Was she alone in the room?"
"Not for a moment," said M. Besnard haughtily. "Really, monsieur,
we are not so ignorant of how an affair of this kind should be
conducted. I was in the room myself the whole time, with my eye
upon her."