Monday morning, hearing of M. Jandidier’s disappearance, they were seized with terror. Tarot said to his wife: “If it is known that our employer came here, that I crossed the bridge and followed the edge of the canal with him, I shall be seriously compromised. If this money were found in our possession we should be lost.”
The wife then wanted to burn the notes, but Tarot opposed the plan, intending to return them to the family.
This explanation was reasonable and plausible, if not probable, but it was merely an explanation. Tarot and his wife were kept under arrest.
IV.
A week after, the magistrate was still greatly perplexed. Three more examinations had not enabled him to come to any fixed conclusion.
Were Tarot and his wife innocent? Were they simply marvelously clever in maintaining a probable story?
The magistrate knew not what to think, when one morning a strange rumor spread abroad. The Maison Jandidier had failed. A detective sent to make inquiries, brought back the most startling news. M. Jandidier, who people supposed to be so rich, was ruined, utterly ruined, and for three years had kept up his credit by all sorts of expedients. There was not a thousand francs in his house, and his notes due at the end of the month amounted to sixty-seven thousand, five hundred francs.
The cautious merchant gambled in stocks at the Bourse, the virtuous husband was unfaithful.