"And your room communicates with that of Monsieur Roché?"
"Yes."
"Then it is simplicity itself; in that five minutes she stole the paper."
"It is not simplicity itself Aidë; far from it. Last night I locked the safe. Monsieur Roché went early, and left the key with me, and I saw the letter there when placing other documents in the safe. This morning before he arrived I unlocked it, took some papers out, and locked it again, and Monsieur Roché found it so when he arrived. So it is impossible to believe that Mlle. Desormes could have accomplished the theft."
"It seems impossible, Gaspard, because we do not know the method."
"There is but one key, and that did not leave my possession. The packet was to all intents and purposes intact this morning, the seal Monsieur Roché stamped upon it a month ago unbroken, but the contents had been stolen."
"She may have substituted a counterfeit for the original," I answered. "It is a favorite trick with a woman," and I smiled as I recollected a similar affair that had occurred between ourselves.
"And forged Monsieur Roché's private seal?"
"My dear Gaspard," I cried, irritably, "what is the use of adopting this supercilious air of obstruction? Papers are not spirited from steel safes. It must have been stolen, and it is for us to discover how, and regain it."
"I only seek to show how inexplicable the thing is," he answered.