“I wish you wouldn’t talk about him,” snapped William.
He spoke in a shaky voice and Jodot chuckled.
“Cowardly dog!” he sneered again.
“Just you bear in mind that when I came back [[294]]from hospital my mother said: ‘All right. You know where this devilish fellow, this poisonous Limézy has hidden Aurelie, and you declare that if you watch him he’ll lead you to the treasure. Very good; my son will lend you a helping hand. But no crimes—no blood.’ What?”
“And there wasn’t a drop of blood,” said Jodot in jesting accents.
“Oh, you know what I mean and what happened to the poor beggar. When there’s a dead man, there’s a crime. It’s just the same in the case of Limézy and Aurelie. Are you going to say there hasn’t been a crime?”
“And what about it? Were we to let this business drop? Do you think that a beggar like Limézy would have made way for you for love of your beautiful eyes? You know the cursed blighter too well. He broke your arm. He would have ended by breaking your neck. It was him, or us; and we had to choose.”
“But Aurelie?”
“The two of them were one. There was no way of getting at the one without getting at the other.”
“The unfortunate girl——”