"I suppose he removed all his murderous appliances?" asked Patrice.
"No, he evidently contemplated coming back and putting everything to rights, so that his share in the business could not be proved, so too that people might believe in your suicide, a mysterious suicide, death without apparent cause; in short, the same tragedy that happened with your father and Little Mother Coralie's mother."
"Then you know? . . ."
"Why, haven't I eyes to read with? What about the inscription on the wall, your father's revelations? I know as much as you do, captain . . . and perhaps a bit more."
"More?"
"Well, of course! Habit, you know, experience! Plenty of problems, unintelligible to others, seem to me the simplest and clearest that can be. Therefore . . ."
Don Luis hesitated whether to go on:
"
