“Which might have been torn off in a struggle between Caffie and his assassin, I read in a newspaper. But as for me, I do not believe in this struggle. Caffie’s position in his chair, where he was assaulted and where he died, indicates that the old scamp was surprised. Otherwise, if he had not been, if he had struggled, he could have cried out, and, without doubt, he would have been heard.”
“If you knew how happy I am to hear you say that!” she cried.
“Happy! What difference can it make to you?” and he looked at her in surprise. “Of what importance is it to you whether Caffie was killed with or without a struggle? You condemned him; he is dead. That should satisfy you.”
“I was very wrong to pronounce this condemnation, which I did without attaching any importance to it.”
“Do you think that hastened its execution?”
“I am not so foolish as that, but I should be better pleased if I had not condemned him.”
“Do you regret it?”
“I regret that he is dead.”
“Decidedly, the enigma continues; but you know I do not understand it, and, if you wish, we will stop there. We have something better to do than to talk of Caffie.”
“On the contrary, let me talk to you of him, because we want your advice.”