"Do you accuse my friend Mme. de Réal?"
"A simple question, madame," replied Ganimard. "Was Mme. de Réal present at the sale of the blue diamond?"
"Yes, but in a different part of the room. We were not together."
"Did she advise you to buy the ring?"
The countess collected her memory:
"Yes ... as a matter of fact.... I think she was the first to mention it to me."
"I note your answer, madame," said Ganimard. "So it is quite certain that it was Mme. de Réal who first spoke to you of the ring and advised you to buy it."
"Still ... my friend is incapable...."
"I beg your pardon, I beg your pardon, Mme. de Réal is only your chance acquaintance and not an intimate friend, as the newspapers stated, thus diverting suspicion from her. You have only known her since last winter. Now I can undertake to prove to you that all that she has told you about herself, her past, her connections is absolutely false; that Mme. Blanche de Réal did not exist before she met you; and that she has ceased to exist at this present moment."
"Well?" said M. Dudouis, "what next?"