“You are exact.”
“I am exact, but before I proceed, I must ask you to excuse me. This is an important matter. In speaking of it I wish to be sure of whom I am addressing. You are Mademoiselle Lefarge, this lady—”
“Is my aunt, Madame de Warens.”
“Thank you, and this gentleman?”
Cécile Lefarge blushed slightly. “He is our very good friend, Mr Hellier.”
Hellier produced his visiting card and handed it to Freyberger.
“That is my name and address,” said he. “I assure you that anything you say before me will not pass beyond me. Mademoiselle Lefarge has entrusted me with the painful details of the case that occurred in Paris eight years ago, and I have made investigations myself in the matter. I have spent some time in Paris studying the reports of the case, and I may be able to assist you in an humble way, if my assistance would not be out of place.”
Freyberger bowed very stiffly. He had a horror of the amateur detective, the Gyde case was his own especial problem, he wished for no help in its solution.
“Thank you,” he said. Then turning to Mademoiselle Lefarge:
“I like to be always perfectly frank, I have brought you a long journey, my message was urgent, yet I can give you no word of hope on the question that has troubled your heart for eight years.”