"Nor the skirt?"
"I am quite sure of that," said the Commissaire.
She removed the hat from the head of papier maché and examined it minutely, then took off the head itself and stared into the painted eyes as though asking the mute familiar lips a question. And then suddenly, as the Commissaire and Monsieur Simon watched curiously,
"It is a pity that you moved the draperies, Monsieur Matthieu," she said slowly.
"Why, Madame?"
"Because you have disturbed the dust."
"I can't understand why——"
"I was away for a week. Some dust would have accumulated, upon the draperies—the figure has been touched. It is not as I left it."
"Of course, Madame, I made a thorough investigation——"
"And what did you learn from it?" she asked quietly.