The clerk took his shorthand notebook out of the room, and Mr. Haslitt turned to Jim Frobisher.
"Now, what's your bad news, Jim?"
Jim blurted it out.
"Waberski accuses Betty Harlowe of murder."
"What!"
Mr. Haslitt sprang to his feet. Jim Frobisher could not have said whether incredulity or anger had the upper hand with the old man, the one so creased his forehead, the other so blazed in his eyes.
"Little Betty Harlowe!" he said in a wondering voice.
"Yes. Waberski has laid a formal charge with the Prefect of Police at Dijon. He accuses Betty of poisoning Mrs. Harlowe on the night of April the twenty-seventh."
"But Betty's not arrested?" Mr. Haslitt exclaimed.
"No, but she's under surveillance."