Without stopping to reflect, with the coolness of an examining magistrate who does not swerve from the line which he has laid out, he asked:
"So the Comte and Comtesse d'Andeville arrived . . ."
"Monsieur le Comte and Madame le Comtesse arrived at the castle on the 28th of August, 1898, and left for the south on the 24th of October."
Paul now knew the truth, for his father was murdered on the 19th of September. And all the circumstances which depended on that truth, which explained it in its main details or which proceeded from it at once appeared to him. He remembered that his father was on friendly terms with the Comte d'Andeville. He said to himself that his father, in the course of his journey in Alsace, must have learnt that his friend d'Andeville was living in Lorraine and must have contemplated paying him a surprise visit. He reckoned up the distance between Ornequin and Strasburg, a distance which corresponded with the time spent in the train. And he asked:
"How far is this from the frontier?"
"Three miles and three-quarters, sir."
"On the other side, at no great distance, there's a little German town, is there not?"
"Is there a short-cut to the frontier?"
"Yes, sir, for about half-way: a path at the other end of the park."