Questioned about her card found in a carriage on the Underground, she suggested that it might possibly be a card which many years before she had given to some model, man or woman, who had kept it to use it as a means of introduction to other artists. (She had written her address on the card herself, in pencil.)
The other addresses on the card were those of the two wig-makers and that of M. Guilbert. The investigations at the wig-makers yielded no result. But when the inspector called on M. Guilbert his researches were rewarded.
I had described the mysterious men and the woman first on the morning of May 31st, 1908, a few hours after they had left my house—on June 1st and again June 5th, when a detective wearing a black gown and hat was paraded before me at Count d'Arlons, and I had described their attire as follows: "The three men wore long black gowns, and the woman wore a man's cloak, long and dark. The long black gowns with their flat, tight sleeves reminded me of the soutanes worn by Catholic priests; the hats were felt hats with high crowns." As regards these hats—and the reader, a little later, will realise the importance of the statement I made—the report of the Sûreté (Criminal Investigation Department) drawn up on June 5th, contained this:
"Concerning the hats, it is useful to recall that, on Monday, June 1st, when Mme. Steinheil gave a description of the individuals whom she saw on the night of May 30th-31st, she specified that the men did not wear hats such as those usually worn by priests, but hats of black felt, the brims of which, bent down, had appeared to her as wide and the crowns higher and more pointed than the hats of ecclesiastics."
And now that my description of the gowns and hats worn by the murderers stands quite clearly before the reader's eyes, let us follow Inspector Pouce to M. Guilbert, the costumier on the Boulevard St. Martin, where he had gone in the hope of discovering a connection between the card and the murder.
The Inspector found Mlle. Rallet, one of M. Guilbert's assistants.
What did Mlle. Rallet—to whose accurate book keeping and absolute reliability, her employer paid a glowing tribute—have to say?
I can do no better than quote the evidence she gave, not only to the Inspector, but to M. Hamard himself.
"This Wednesday, June 10, 1908, we, Gustave Hamard, Knight of the Legion of Honour, head of the Criminal Investigation Department, continuing our investigations, have heard, on oath, Mlle. Georgette Rallet... who has declared:
'I have been employed since September 1907 by M. Guilbert.... My duties are to receive customers and to record the despatch and return of all goods. It goes without saying that I examine the goods when they are returned as well as when they leave our premises. Our customers are chiefly actors and actresses, and among them there is a Russian society, which has its headquarters at the Eden Theatre (or Hebrew Theatre), 133 Rue Saint Denis. The orders of the society are given by M. Goldstein and Feinberg, who are usually accompanied by Mlle. Jankel....