"They are crying it in the streets," said Wethermill. "Read!"

A short paragraph was printed in large black letters on the first
page, and leaped to the eyes.

"Late last night," it ran, "an appalling murder was committed at
the Villa Rose, on the road to Lac Bourget. Mme. Camille Dauvray,
an elderly, rich woman who was well known at Aix, and had occupied
the villa every summer for the last few years, was discovered on
the floor of her salon, fully dressed and brutally strangled,
while upstairs, her maid, Helene Vauquier, was found in bed,
chloroformed, with her hands tied securely behind her back. At the
time of going to press she had not recovered consciousness, but
the doctor, Emile Peytin, is in attendance upon her, and it is
hoped that she will be able shortly to throw some light on this
dastardly affair. The police are properly reticent as to the
details of the crime, but the following statement may be accepted
without hesitation:

"The murder was discovered at twelve o'clock at night by the
sergent-de-ville Perrichet, to whose intelligence more than a word
of praise is due, and it is obvious from the absence of all marks
upon the door and windows that the murderer was admitted from
within the villa. Meanwhile Mme. Dauvray's motor-car has
disappeared, and with it a young Englishwoman who came to Aix with
her as her companion. The motive of the crime leaps to the eyes.
Mme. Dauvray was famous in Aix for her jewels, which she wore with
too little prudence. The condition of the house shows that a
careful search was made for them, and they have disappeared. It is