"Next comes Louis de Malreich, the monster, this one, the terrible murderer who will be beheaded in a few days from now."
"Yes."
"Then, lastly, Isilda, the mad daughter. . . ."
"Yes."
"So all that is quite positive, is it not?"
"Yes."
"Well," said Lupin, leaning over her more closely than before, "I have just made an investigation which showed to me that the second of the three Christian names, or rather a part of the line on which it is written, has at some time or other, been subjected to erasure. The line is written over, in a new hand, with much fresher ink; but the writing below is not quite effaced, so that. . . ."
"So that . . . ?" asked Mrs. Kesselbach, in a low voice.
"So that, with a good lens and particularly with the special methods which I have at my disposal, I was able to revive some of the obliterated syllables and, without any possibility of a mistake, in all certainty, to reconstruct the old writing. I then found not Louis de Malreich, but . . ."
"Oh, don't, don't! . . ."