"Was old Siméon?" Patrice interrupted. "The theory won't hold water."
"Why not?"
"Because this friend is dead. The man who, as you say, sought to intervene between us, who sent me the key of the garden, who called me to the telephone to tell me the truth, that man was murdered. There is not the least doubt about it. I heard the cries of a man who is being killed, dying cries, the cries which a man utters when at the moment of death."
"You can never be sure."
"I am, absolutely. There is no shadow of doubt in my mind. The man whom I call our unknown friend died before finishing his work; he died murdered, whereas Siméon is alive. Besides," continued Patrice, "this man had a different voice from Siméon, a voice which I had never heard before and which I shall never hear again."
Coralie w
