"Yes. Yes," I replied, pretending to believe her. "And what about the Count, her husband, the one who pulled the dagger on her while she was playing the piano?"
The woman looked at me for a moment and then laughed in my face.
"You're laughing, are you? Don't you think I know what took place? You don't want to tell me what really happened. There'd be grounds for a criminal prosecution if you did."
"But you mentioned a count and a countess."
"Was not this dog's mistress the Countess wronged by the butler
Mudarra?"
The woman burst out laughing again so uproariously that I muttered to myself distractedly: She must be Mudarra's accomplice and naturally she'll hide as much as she can.
"You're mad," the unknown woman added.
"Lunatic, lunatic. I'm suffocated. Oh! My God!"
"I know everything. Come now. Don't hide it from me. Tell me what the Countess died of."
"For crying out loud, what countess?" exclaimed the woman, laughing even more loudly.