“This silence she kept until yesterday; why should she not keep it a few days longer?  It is evident that if she had not related what she saw, it is because she had reasons for being silent.  It is probable that, being ill, she did not wish to expose herself to the annoyances and fatigue of an investigation; and in her eyes her deposition was not of great importance.  What should she have revealed to the prosecution?  That the man who committed the crime was tall, with a curled blond beard?  This man the law held, or it held one the description of whom answered to this, which to Madame Dammauville was the same thing.  She did not need, therefore, to call the police or the judge to tell them these insignificant things for her own comfort; and, also, because she believed that she had nothing interesting to say, she did not speak.  It was when accident brought to her notice the portrait of the accused, she recognized that the law had not the real criminal, and then she broke the silence.  The moment when she first saw this portrait is not stated precisely; I undertake to arrange that.  The difficulty is not there.”

“Where do you see it?”

“Here:  Madame Dammauville may have already told her story to so many persons that it is already public property, where the prosecution has picked it up.  In that case there will be no ‘coup de theatre’.  She will be questioned, her deposition examined, and we will have only a suspected testimony.  The first thing to do, then, is to know how far this story has spread, and if there is yet time to prevent it from spreading farther.”

“That is not easy, it seems to me.”

“I believe Mademoiselle Phillis can do it.  She is a brave woman, whom nothing dejects or disconcerts, which is the living proof that we are only valued according to the force and versatility of the inner consciousness.  For the rest, I need not sound her praises, since you know her better than I; and what I say has no other object but to explain the confidence that I place in her.  As I cannot interfere myself, I think there is no better person than she to act on Madame Dammauville, without disturbing or wounding her, and to bring about the result that we desire.  I am sure that she has already won Madame Dammauville, and that she will be listened to with sympathy.”

“Do you wish me to write to her to come to see you tomorrow?”

“No; it would be better for you so see her this evening, if possible.”

“I shall go to the Batignolles when I leave you.”

“She will enter into her part perfectly, I am certain, and she will succeed, I hope.”

“It seems to me that your combination rests, above all, on the ’coup de theatre’ of the non-recognition of Florentin by Madame Dammauville.  How will you bring this paralytic to court?”

“I depend upon you.”

“And how?”

“You will examine her.”

“I shall have to go to her house!”