The Prisoner in the Opal

to make an opportunity for a quite private conversation with his chauffeur. He waited in the porch accordingly until Hanaud joined him, hauteur and indignation in every line of his face. But Hanaud waved his hand airily.

“I know, I know, my friend. It was a subterfuge. Yes, my manners are all that is deplorable. But you must take me as I am. As you say very well in your idioms, you cannot make a silk purse out of a Bath chap.”

IX

Tells Something of Evelyn Devenish

For half an hour Hanaud was busy with the Commissaire Herbesthal and his own assistant, Moreau, in a room which had been put aside for them. Mr. Ricardo, left to his own devices and being in a maze of doubts, speculations, prejudices and ignorance, snatched some luncheon and set himself down in the library in front of the window. Halfway between the terrace and the hedge at the bottom of the garden a gendarme stood sentinel at the edge of a round flowerbed. There were three little brown mounds on the surface of the bed, as though a mole had been at work; and the thought of that industrious animal became to Julius Ricardo a reproach and an inspiration. He took a sheet of paper from the stand to make a table for his own guidance. He drew a dividing line down the middle of the sheet, set the facts, so far as he knew them, upon the left-hand side, and his questions and suspicions upon the right. After half an hour of laborious breathing and deep cogitation, he had produced the following compendium; upon the top of which he wrote the rather pretentious legend: “The Affair at the Château Suvlac”⁠—so:

The Affair at the Château Suvlac

(1) A crime has been committed. For young ladies do not stab themselves to the heart, cut off their hands, put themselves into baskets, and throw basket, themselves and all into a river unaided.	This is true.
(2) The victim is a young woman, Evelyn Devenish, who is or has been married, but wears no wedding ring.	Important to discover at the earliest moment Evelyn D.’s antecedents.
(3) So far, no motive for the crime has been discovered or suggested.
(4) So far, the severed hand has not been found.	Question (1): Why was the hand severed after death? Or at all?
(5) Another guest at the Château Suvlac disappeared upon the same night, an American girl, Joyce Whipple, and a gold bracelet which she was wearing was found in E. D.’s basket.	A very unusual occurrence. Question (2): Was J. W. present when E. D. was basketed, and did the bracelet became unfastened and fall unnoticed in the horror of the moment?
(6) My observation assured me that E. D. had a great ill-will towards J. W. and would gladly have seen her dead.	On the face of it, therefore, it would have been more probable that J. W. should be murdered by E. D., than E. D. by J. W.
(7) When E. D. betrayed by a glance of hatred her feelings towards J. W., Robin Webster was seated close to J. W. in a rather caressing attitude.	(7) and (8) might have provided a motive for the murder of J. W. by E. D., if the two girls were rivals for the young man. But no motive for the murder of E. D. by J. W., since J. W. was the successful rival.
(8) When the fact of J. W.’s disappearance became known, Robin Webster uttered a cry of grief and dismay.
(9) Since E. D.’s bed was undisturbed and there was no noise in the house, it looks as if she had left the house and was murdered outside.	But when? The lights which I saw in the white house on the hill at two o’clock in the morning have been explained by the Juge d’Instruction.
(10) It appears that Joyce Whipple did not sleep in her room either, and it becomes necessary to consider her position in this case.
(11) Her first statement to me in London about the letters which she had received from Diana; which, according to Hanaud, may be explained either:
(a) She wished to prepare me for what was to happen at the Château Suvlac, for some purpose of her own;	With regard to (a) Tidon, the Juge d’Instruction, would probably accept it. But he wants a good conviction.
(b) She was a hysterical person;	With regard to (b) no; she was not hysterical.
(c) She was just speaking the truth.	With regard to (c) you cannot any longer scoff at telepathy. It is a fact.
(12) Joyce Whipple is generally held to be a rich American girl. Yet she spoke of herself as Cinderella.
(13) She might have been kidnapped.	Why?
(14) She might have run away.	Why?
(15) There remains Diana Tasborough for consideration. She was both astounded and horrified at the murder of E. D. and the disappearance of J. W.	Women criminals are admirable actresses. All police authorities agree.
(16) Her docility to her aunt showed that she had some great obsession.	Quite.
(17) She has a picture over her bed which gave Hanaud an idea.	Mem. I must see that picture as soon as I can.
(18) A light was burning in her room at half-past two in the morning. When I knocked upon the glass door, it went out extraordinarily quickly.	Very suspicious.
(19) In view of the surprising difficulties of the case, judgment must be suspended. But some questions must be borne in mind.	Yes, e.g. (1) Why was Evelyn Devenish’s hand chopped off?

As Mr. Ricardo wrote those last ineffectual words Hanaud’s voice spoke above his shoulders:

“So there we are! We suspend the judgment! To be sure. What else can we do when we have no judgment even to suspend? And some questions must be borne in the mind. How very, very true that is.”

Mr. Ricardo flushed and looked up haughtily.

“I made these notes solely