The woman’s hands trembled slightly, but, noting it, she took scissors from the work-basket and calmly cut the silk from her needle, rethreaded it, and began work on another flower as she remarked quietly: “I cannot anticipate such a horror on false evidence. Surely you will take time, you will investigate the matter thoroughly before condemning her!”
“Naturally; but before we leave this house positive proof will be in our hands.”
She glanced up, apparently mystified. “A proof you will find here—in my house!”
“Yes, Madame; the papers your daughter brought here last night.”
“Oh!” She smiled again, the pathetic mirthless smile of baffled innocence. “If those papers are here, Monsieur, you have full liberty to find them.”
“Where did your daughter go to-day?” he asked abruptly.
“Which daughter?”
“Madame de Z——”
“I had no idea she had gone anywhere. Surely if she left the château she would come to see me! Her sister was here last night and said nothing of my daughter Amelia having left the country.”
“Her sister is Madame de R——, is she not?”