For a moment, we were silent and embarrassed. Then
Daspry stepped forward, and said:
"Will you permit me to ask you a few questions?"
"Yes, yes," she cried. "I will answer."
"You will answer....whatever those questions may be?"
"Yes."
"Did you know Louis Lacombe?" he asked.
"Yes, through my husband."
"When did you see him for the last time?"
"The evening he dined with us."
"At that time, was there anything to lead you to believe that you
would never see him again?"
"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?"
"Yes."
"On what do you base your opinion?"
"When he left our house, Louis Lacombe carried a satchel containing
all the papers relating to his invention. Two days later, my
husband, in a conversation with one of the Varin brothers, learned
that the papers were in their possession.
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