"I must tell you that our ride happened to take us to an old domain which
you are sure to know, the Domaine de Halingre."

"Certainly I know it. But it has been closed, boarded up for twenty-five
years or so. You weren't able to get in, I suppose?"

"Yes, we were."

"Really? Was it interesting?"

"Extremely. We discovered the strangest things."

"What things?" asked the count, looking at his watch.

Renine described what they had seen:

"On a tower some way from the house there were two dead bodies, two
skeletons rather ... a man and a woman still wearing the clothes which
they had on when they were murdered."

"Come, come, now! Murdered?"

"Yes; and that is what we have come to trouble you about. The tragedy must
date back to some twenty years ago. Was nothing known of it at the time?"

"Certainly not," declared the count. "I never heard of any such crime or
disappearance."

"Oh, really!" said Renine, looking a little disappointed. "I hoped to
obtain a few particulars."