"You tell me there were twenty-thousand francs in the envelope which I

put into M. Richard's pocket; but I tell you again that I knew nothing

about it ... Nor M. Richard either, for that matter!"

"Aha!" said Richard, suddenly assuming a swaggering air which

Moncharmin did not like. "I knew nothing either! You put

twenty-thousand francs in my pocket and I knew nothing either! I am

very glad to hear it, Mme. Giry!"

"Yes," the terrible dame agreed, "yes, it's true. We neither of us

knew anything. But you, you must have ended by finding out!"

Richard would certainly have swallowed Mme. Giry alive, if Moncharmin

had not been there! But Moncharmin protected her. He resumed his

questions: "What sort of envelope did you put in M. Richard's pocket? It was not

the one which we gave you, the one which you took to Box Five before

our eyes; and yet that was the one which contained the twenty-thousand

francs."

"I beg your pardon. The envelope which M. le Directeur gave me was the

one which I slipped into M. le Directeur's pocket," explained Mme.

Giry. "The one which I took to the ghost's box was another envelope,

just like it, which the ghost gave me beforehand and which I hid up my

sleeve."

So saying, Mme. Giry took from her sleeve an envelope ready prepared

and similarly addressed to that containing the twenty-thousand francs.

The managers took it from her. They examined it and saw that it was

fastened with seals stamped with their own managerial seal. They

opened it. It contained twenty Bank of St. Farce notes like those

which had so much astounded them the month before.

"How simple!" said Richard.

"How simple!" repeated Moncharmin. And he continued with his eyes

fixed upon Mme. Giry, as though trying to hypnotize her.

"So it was the ghost who gave you this envelope and told you to

substitute it for the one which we gave you? And it was the ghost who

told you to put the other into M. Richard's pocket?"

"Yes, it was the ghost."

"Then would you mind giving us a specimen of your little talents? Here

is the envelope. Act as though we knew nothing."

"As you please, gentlemen."

Mme. Giry took the envelope with the twenty notes inside it and made

for the door. She was on the point of going out when the two managers

rushed at her: "Oh, no! Oh, no! We're not going to be 'done' a second time! Once

bitten, twice shy!"

"I beg your pardon, gentlemen," said the old woman, in self-excuse,

"you told me to act as though you knew nothing ... Well, if you knew

nothing, I should go away with your envelope!"

"And then how would you slip it into my pocket?" argued Richard, whom

Moncharmin fixed with his left eye, while keeping his right on Mme.

Giry: a proceeding likely to strain his sight, but Moncharmin was

prepared to go to any length to discover the truth.




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