“No. But he had spoken of a trip to Russia—in a vague way.”

“Then you expected to see him again?”

“Yes. He was to dine with us, two days later.”

“How do you explain his disappearance?”

“I cannot explain it.”

“And Mon. Andermatt?”

“I do not know.”

“Yet the article published in the Echo de France indicates—-”

“Yes, that the Varin brothers had something to do with his disappearance.”

“Is that your opinion?”