"Listen, and I'll explain everything." Then turning to the others, he went on: "Reginald fell violently in love with Miss Rosselli, not knowing that she had been engaged to become my wife. When, the day after meeting her at the hotel, he told me of his infatuation, and heard from me the whole truth, he seemed considerably upset. 'She loves you still,' he said. 'I feel certain that she does, for she has given me no encouragement.' I affected to take no notice of his words, but to me the matter was a very painful one. I had broken off the engagement, it was true, but my heart was now filled by bitter remorse. I had seen Carmela again; all the old love had come back to me, and I now despised myself for my mean and unwarrantable action. We had met several times, but as strangers; and knowing her proud spirit, I feared to approach her, feeling certain that she would never forgive."
"Forgive!" I cried. "I would have gladly forgiven!"
"Carmela," he said, turning again to me with a very serious expression on his face, "I regret being compelled to lay bare my secret thus before you, but I must tell them everything."
"Yes," I said. "Now that this woman is to bear the punishment of her crime, let us know all." Then I added bitterly: "Speak without any regard for my feelings, or even for my presence."
"A few days prior to his tragic end, poor Reggie had, as I have explained, moved over to the 'Grand' at Nice, but strangely enough, the same idea had occurred to this woman Fournereau. She preferred to live in Nice during Carnival, she told me, for she liked all the fun and gaiety. Whether it was for that reason, I know not, but at all events it seems clear, from inquiries recently completed in Nice, that one afternoon he met this woman at Rumpelmayer's, the fashionable lounge for afternoon tea, and in a sudden fit of anger declared that he would denounce her as an adventuress and swindler. Now it appears that his clients, the gamblers who frequent this place, number among them some of the most notorious and desperate members of the criminal fraternity, and the natural conclusion is that, fearing his exposure, she killed him."
"I deny it!" cried the wretched woman. "It is a false accusation, which you cannot prove."
"The extreme care and marvellous ingenuity by which the poor fellow's death was encompassed is shown by every detail of the case. Not a single point was apparently overlooked. Even the means by which he was assassinated have remained, until now, a mystery. But passing to the night of the tragedy, it will be remembered that he had won sixty thousand francs at roulette, and having left Miss Rosselli and her friends, he re-entered the Rooms and changed his winnings into large notes. Half an hour before, this woman, whom I had met earlier in the evening, and who had dined with me at Giro's, had wished me good-night. She had previously watched his success at the tables, and had followed him into the Casino when he re-entered to change the notes. The interval of about an hour between his leaving Monte Carlo and his arrival at the 'Grand Hotel' at Nice is still unaccounted for. Nevertheless, we know that this woman, whom he had threatened, travelled by the same train from Monte Carlo to Nice, that she entered the hotel a few minutes later and went to her room, and that next morning she had in her possession sixty notes, each for a thousand francs. It seems, however, that she quickly became alarmed lest suspicion might rest upon her, for the police had commenced active inquiries, and therefore she resolved to get rid of the stolen notes. This she did with the aid of an accomplice, a man named Vauquelin—a man very well known at Monte Carlo. This rascal, one of the habitués of this place, went to the Carnival ball at the Nice Casino, and there gave Miss Rosselli the stolen money, intending that its possession should throw suspicion upon her. Some other members of that interesting gang of sharpers, who make this place their headquarters, going south in winter in search of pigeons to pluck, knowing Vauquelin's intention, posed as detectives, to whom Miss Rosselli innocently handed over the notes she had received."
He paused for a moment; then he continued: "Now, however, comes one of the most ingenious features of the affair. This woman, finding next day that her plot to throw suspicion upon Miss Rosselli had failed, turned her attention to myself. She was aware that a slight quarrel had occurred between Reggie and myself regarding his injudicious and futile action in seeking to denounce her, and, with others, had overheard some high words between us when we had met on the terrace at the Café de Paris on the afternoon previous to his death. She gave information to the police, and then left the Riviera suddenly. Next day I found myself under the observation of the police, and in order to escape arrest, induced Mr. Keppel—who has taken a great interest in the affair from the first, being one of the trustees under the will of Mr. Thorne, senior—to conceal me on board his yacht until such time as our inquiries in Paris could be completed. It was ascertained that this woman Fournereau, who had gone to Russia, intended to return to her apartment here upon a date she had arranged with one of her accomplices, a Corsican named Laumont. This is the reason why it seemed good to me to remain in hiding from the police until to-day. This is her first reception, notice of which was circulated among her friends by means of the cipher upon certain tables in the cafés on the grands boulevards."
"Then you, too, were actually concealed on board the Vispera during the whole cruise?" I exclaimed, in great surprise.
"No, I went ashore at Malta, and the vessel returned for me three weeks later," he replied.