"Yes; a criminal case----"
"A criminal case!" she echoed pettishly.
"In which there is a great mystery. I do not trouble you with these law matters; long ago you expressed weariness of such themes."
Her humour changed again.
"A mystery!" she exclaimed with child-like vivacity, "in a place where news is so scarce! It must be delightful. What is it about? There is a woman in it, of course. There always is."
"Yes; a young woman, whose body was found in the Rhone."
"Murdered?"
"Murdered, as it at present seems."
"The wretch! Have they caught him? For of course it is a man who committed the dreadful deed."
"One is in prison, charged with the crime. I visited him to-day."