Betty nodded, but Girardot was at a loss. He managed to look extremely important, but importance was not required.
"I don't remember," he said.
However, corroboration of a kind at all events did come though from another source.
"If I might speak, Monsieur Hanaud?" said Maurice Thevenet eagerly.
"But by all means," Hanaud replied.
"I came into this room just behind Monsieur Girardot on the Sunday morning. I did not see any ashes in the hearth, that is true. But Mademoiselle Harlowe was in the act of arranging that screen of blue lacquer in front of the fireplace, just as we saw it to-day. She arranged it, and when she saw who her visitors were she stood up with a start of surprise."
"Aha!" said Hanaud cordially. He smiled at Betty. "This evidence is just as valuable as if he had told us that he had seen the ashes themselves."
He rose to his feet and went close to her.
"But there is another letter which you were good enough to promise to me," he said.
"The an——" she began and Hanaud stopped her hurriedly.