"Your suspicions would vanish at once, sir," she said to the commissary, "if I could but explain to you our mode of life."
Encouraged by his first discovery, he was proceeding more minutely with his perquisitions, undoing the strings of every bundle.
"It is useless, madame," he answered in that brief tone which made so much impression upon M. Desclavettes. "You can only tell me what you know; and you know nothing."
"Never, sir, did a man lead a more regular life than M. Favoral."
"In appearance, you are right. Besides, to regulate one's disorder is one of the peculiarities of our time. We open credits to our passions, and we keep account of our infamies by double entry. We operate with method. We embezzle millions that we may hang diamonds to the ears of an adventuress; but we are careful, and we keep the receipted bills."
"But, sir, I have already told you that I never lost sight of my husband."
"Every morning, precisely at nine o'clock, he left home to go to M. de Thaller's office."
"The whole neighborhood knows that, madame."
