"If I did, the police would have known before now. I tell you I know nothing about him—absolutely nothing. I have seen and heard nothing of him since the murder. He has not been to my daughter's apartment since her death—he was not at her funeral. He who pretended to adore her did not follow her to her grave. All Paris was there; but he who was supposed to be her husband was not there."
"How can you tell that he was not there, since you do not know his appearance?"
"Barbe Girot knows him. It is on her authority that I say he was not there."
"I will trouble you with no further questions to-day, madame. I will take Barbe Girot's evidence next."
Barbe Girot's evidence was to the effect that for nearly four years this Monsieur Georges had been a constant visitor at her mistress's apartment. He had come there after the theatre, and it had been Barbe's duty to leave the supper-table laid, and the candles ready on the chimney-piece and table, before she went to bed. Madame Georges let herself in with a latch-key, and Barbe rarely sat up for her. Madame did not always return to the Rue Lafitte for supper. There were occasions when she supped on the Boulevard, or in the Bois, and returned to her apartment at a very late hour. Barbe saw Monsieur Georges occasionally, but not frequently. He was a handsome man, but not in his first youth. He might have been five or six and thirty. He was generous, and appeared to be rich. Whatever his fortune may have been, he would have given Madame the whole of it if she had asked him. There was never a man more passionately in love with a woman. After the Baron de Maucroix's appearance on the scene there were storms. Barbe had seen Monsieur Georges cry like a child. She had also seen him give way to violent passion. There had been one night when she thought that he would kill Madame. He had his hands upon her throat; he seemed as if he were going to strangle her. And then he fell on his knees, and grovelled at her feet. He implored her to forgive him. It was dreadful.
Did Barbe Girot think that Monsieur Georges was Madame's husband?
She had never presumed to form an opinion upon that subject. Her mistress wore a wedding-ring, and was always known as Madame Georges in the house where she lived. Madame's conduct was altogether irreproachable. Until the Baron de Maucroix began to visit her, no other man than Monsieur Georges had crossed her threshold. And the visits of Monsieur de Maucroix were such visits as any gentleman in Paris might pay to any lady, were she the highest in the land.
"Did your mistress ever go out with Monsieur de Maucroix before that fatal visit to Saint-Germain?"
"Never. And on that occasion Madame took the little girl with her. She refused to go alone with the Baron."
"Is it your opinion that your mistress was inclined to favour Monsieur de Maucroix' suit?"