"How dark?" asked Harry Wethermill.

"I will tell you," said Hanaud, drawing his chair still closer to
the young man. "Understand this in the first place. There was an
accomplice within the villa. Some one let the murderers in. There
is no sign of an entrance being forced; no lock was picked, there
is no mark of a thumb on any panel, no sign of a bolt being
forced. There was an accomplice within the house. We start from
that."

Wethermill nodded his head sullenly. Ricardo drew his chair up
towards the others. But Hanaud was not at that moment interested
in Ricardo.

"Well, then, let us see who there are in Mme. Dauvray's household.
The list is not a long one. It was Mme. Dauvray's habit to take
her luncheon and her dinner at the restaurants, and her maid was
all that she required to get ready her 'petit dejeuner' in the
morning and her 'sirop' at night. Let us take the members of the
household one by one. There is first the chauffeur, Henri
Servettaz. He was not at the villa last night. He came back to it
early this morning."

"Ah!" said Ricardo, in a significant exclamation. Wethermill did
not stir. He sat still as a stone, with a face deadly white and
eyes burning upon Hanaud's face.

"But wait," said Hanaud, holding up a warning hand to Ricardo.
"Servettaz was in Chambery, where his parents live. He travelled