Pierre Buisson came every day, but was not allowed to see Marthe, and my poor child was bitterly grieved.... It was clear that the Buissons, however devoted to me, were annoyed by my increasing notoriety—and how could I blame them, although I certainly was not to blame for that notoriety—and thought it wise that the engagement between their son and my daughter should not be insisted upon until the murderers were arrested, and the "Impasse Ronsin Mystery" solved and forgotten.
This separation, though merely temporary, was a new source of grief to me; I had lost my mother whom I adored, my husband who had been a good friend for nearly twenty years and for whom Marthe had a profound affection, several newspapers were publishing articles on the "Murder Mystery" which were full of almost transparent accusations against me.... And now I had to watch my only child, my little Marthe, suffer in her love, that pure and charming romance of hers, which reminded me of my own short-lived engagement to Lieutenant Sheffer, in dear Beaucourt, when I was Marthe's age!...
I begged Dr. Acheray to take me to Bellevue. It seemed to me that there, in the country, away from Paris and alone with my daughter, I should suffer less.... He agreed, and in the middle of June, that is, a fortnight after the crime, I was taken in an ambulance to Vert-Logis. There I stayed with Marthe, a nurse, and Mariette Wolff, the old cook. At my request, two detectives lived and slept at Vert-Logis. I was frightened, not without good reason, and wanted to feel protected. Also, I wished those men to observe every one who came to see me. It might prove useful....
Mariette loathed the police, and did not hesitate to say so. I myself did not like to have those men in the house, but I thought that Marthe and I were safer while they lived with us.
Meanwhile, the house in the Impasse Ronsin was in the care of the concierges, and two detectives.
Every day, although I was far from well and still needed sea-water injections, the detectives at work on the mystery came to me for further information.
I did not feel happier at Bellevue. There can be no question of any degree of happiness when one lives through such days as those I went through at the time, but I certainly felt very hopeful, and I will now say why.
CHAPTER XV
THE BLACK GOWNS
"AN extraordinary event has taken place, a series of facts have been discovered, every one of them of such importance in the 'Impasse Ronsin Affair,' that the mystery is bound very soon to be cleared, and the three men in the black gowns and the red-haired woman you saw that night will be found and arrested.... We hold the clue of clues!"
These words were spoken to me at Bellevue on June 19th, 1908, three weeks after the crime, by one of the inspectors who almost daily called on me.