"Many persons went into the room, Madame——"
"Later, Monsieur," she broke in quickly. "Later, after this man who had come out had mingled with the crowd and gone down the stair."
Monsieur Matthieu started.
"Madame!" he gasped.
"Listen, Monsieur Joubert," she went on earnestly, "and answer me truthfully, for the life of a human being hangs on your replies. Did you know some of the people in the crowd who rushed up the stair?"
"As to that—oui, Madame," said Joubert more easily. "Most of them I knew—they are of the neighborhood. Monsieur Lavaud, Monsieur Picard of the Lavoir, Monsieur Gabriel and others——"
"But this man who came out of the door of the hall room," she insisted clearly. "You had never seen him before?"
Joubert shrugged.
"Now that you mention it, Madame, I think that is the truth."
"Are you sure that you never saw him in the neighborhood?"