"Oh, not a sergent-de-ville, monsieur, I beg of you. I should be disgraced."
"No. It shall be a man in plain clothes, to see that you are not hindered by reporters on the way."
Hanaud turned towards the door. On the dressing-table a cord was lying. He took it up and spoke to the nurse.
"Was this the cord with which Helene Vauquier’s hands were tied?"
"Yes, monsieur," she replied.
Hanaud handed it to the Commissaire.
"It will be necessary to keep that," he said.
It was a thin piece of strong whipcord. It was the same kind of cord as that which had been found tied round Mme. Dauvray’s throat. Hanaud opened the door and turned back to the nurse.
"We will send for a cab for Mlle. Vauquier. You will drive with her to her door. I think after that she will need no further help. Pack up a few things and bring them down. Mlle. Vauquier can follow, no doubt, now without assistance." And, with a friendly nod, he left the room.
Ricardo had been wondering, through the examination, in what light Hanaud considered Helene Vauquier. He was sympathetic, but the sympathy might merely have been assumed to deceive. His questions betrayed in no particular the colour of his mind. Now, however, he made himself clear. He informed the nurse, in the plainest possible way, that she was no longer to act as jailer. She was to bring Vauquier’s things down; but Vauquier could follow by herself. Evidently Helene Vauquier was cleared.