"Have you any reason to think that she was his lawful wife?"
"I cannot tell. His constancy and devotion were those of the best of husbands. She wore a wedding-ring, and she was always called by his name when they travelled, as well as in her lodgings. It was almost at the beginning of their attachment that he took her to England. I have sometimes thought that they were married in England."
"Did he introduce her to his friends in Paris?"
"Only a few artists and writers whom she used to meet at supper. They were some of the wildest young men in Paris."
"But he introduced her to no ladies—to no families of good standing?"
"I doubt if he could have had any such friends. He lived too eccentric a life to cultivate what you call respectable acquaintance."
"Was he himself an artist?"
"I think not. He was too rich for a painter or an author."
"And you have never heard of him since Marie Prévol's death?"
"Never."