"At 3 A.M. their resolution was taken. M. Steinheil and Mme. Japy were going to die.
"'I MYSELF SLIPPED THE CORD AROUND MY HUSBAND'S NECK AND TUGGED,' said Mme. Steinheil in a hoarse voice.
"'THEN CAME MY MOTHER'S TURN.
"'FOR IT IS I WHO DID EVERYTHING, WHO HAD DETERMINED ON EVERYTHING. MY ACCOMPLICE MERELY ASSISTED ME IN ORGANISING THE SHAM BURGLARY WHICH FOLLOWED.
"'IT WAS I WHO STOPPED THE CLOCK AT THE MOMENT WHEN HE CAME IN, IT WAS I WHO UPSET THE INKSTAND.
"'THIS WHOLE TRAGEDY TOOK PLACE WITHOUT A CRY, WITHOUT A HITCH. LESS THAN TEN MINUTES SUFFICED TO CARRY OUT THE GHASTLY TASK.
"'Then, after I had gone back to bed, my accomplice bound me.
"'The day was breaking. He left.'
"After finishing the terrifying narrative the painter's widow appeared relieved of a great burden.
"For a few minutes she seemed deep in thought, and suddenly she realised what a frightful secret she had just disclosed in a moment of despair and abandonment.