"And you thought you 'd confuse me, eh?"
"Exactly. When you saw the ring on his finger only, the circumstance was pregnant—portentous. When you had two rings on two right hands, why, you were puzzled, but the effect was scattering and weak."
I approached Mr. Fluette with an enthusiasm decidedly tempered, and so I was not as disappointed as I might have been. My good news seemed to produce not the slightest effect upon him. He appeared to have aged twenty years; and from that day until his death, which occurred only four months later, he remained melancholy and without interest in anything whatever.
However, I was placed in the most embarrassing position that I ever experienced in my life. Before explanations were half made, Miss Belle flew at me—I 'm not attempting a pun, either—with a glad, impetuous cry, threw her arms around my neck, and, drawing herself to her tiptoes—kissed me! I had been far more at ease under her levelled revolver.
In the afternoon Genevieve and I repaired to the old Page place. She was so confident that she could find the originals of the designs on the cipher, that I was anxious to give her the chance. Besides, she was afraid to go alone, and I simply had to accompany her. Belle could not without Maillot tagging along, and—well, we didn't want anybody else.
First of all, Genevieve had to be shown the dent made by the candlestick in the railing of the balustrade. She placed the tip of one little finger in the depression, and drew back with a shudder.
"Let's go," she said, in a hushed voice. "I never expect to come up these stairs again. Let's find the daisies, and go."
She understood as well as I did that Felix Page must have substituted the stones somewhere between the library table and the hidden safe in his bedroom. She proposed to start at the table and examine every object, if necessary, between the two points mentioned.
Our progress was slow until we reached the bedroom. Genevieve drew to an abrupt halt on the threshold.
"There was a table there, by the head of the bed," she said; "where is it?"