Eight Strokes of the Clock | Page 7

squalid sight which had met their eyes. But
Rénine, who was in a lively mood and full of attentions to his
companion, seemed utterly indifferent to those questions.
"But, after all," she exclaimed, impatiently, "we can't leave the matter
there! It calls for a solution."
"As you say," he replied, "a solution is called for. M. Rossigny has to
know where he stands and you have to decide what to do about him."
She shrugged her shoulders: "He's of no importance for the moment.
The thing to-day...."
"Is what?"
"Is to know what those two dead bodies are."
"Still, Rossigny...."
"Rossigny can wait. But I can't. You have shown me a mystery which
is now the only thing that matters. What do you intend to do?"
"To do?"

"Yes. There are two bodies.... You'll inform the police, I suppose."
"Gracious goodness!" he exclaimed, laughing. "What for?"
"Well, there's a riddle that has to be cleared up at all costs, a terrible
tragedy."
"We don't need any one to do that."
"What! Do you mean to say that you understand it?"
"Almost as plainly as though I had read it in a book, told in full detail,
with explanatory illustrations. It's all so simple!"
She looked at him askance, wondering if he was making fun of her. But
he seemed quite serious.
"Well?" she asked, quivering with curiosity.
The light was beginning to wane. They had trotted at a good pace; and
the hunt was returning as they neared La Marèze.
"Well," he said, "we shall get the rest of our information from people
living round about ... from your uncle, for instance; and you will see
how logically all the facts fit in. When you hold the first link of a chain,
you are bound, whether you like it or not, to reach the last. It's the
greatest fun in the world."
Once in the house, they separated. On going to her room, Hortense
found her luggage and a furious letter from Rossigny in which he bade
her good-bye and announced his departure.
Then Rénine knocked at her door:
"Your uncle is in the library," he said. "Will you go down with me? I've
sent word that I am coming."
She went with him. He added:

"One word more. This morning, when I thwarted your plans and
begged you to trust me, I naturally undertook an obligation towards you
which I mean to fulfill without delay. I want to give you a positive
proof of this."
She laughed:
"The only obligation which you took upon yourself was to satisfy my
curiosity."
"It shall be satisfied," he assured her, gravely, "and more fully than you
can possibly imagine."
M. d'Aigleroche was alone. He was smoking his pipe and drinking
sherry. He offered a glass to Rénine, who refused.
"Well, Hortense!" he said, in a rather thick voice. "You know that it's
pretty dull here, except in these September days. You must make the
most of them. Have you had a pleasant ride with Rénine?"
"That's just what I wanted to talk about, my dear sir," interrupted the
prince.
"You must excuse me, but I have to go to the station in ten minutes, to
meet a friend of my wife's."
"Oh, ten minutes will be ample!"
"Just the time to smoke a cigarette?"
"No longer."
He took a cigarette from the case which M. d'Aigleroche handed to him,
lit it and said:
"I must tell you that our ride happened to take us to an old domain
which you are sure to know, the Domaine de Halingre."
"Certainly I know it. But it has been closed, boarded up for twenty-five

years or so. You weren't able to get in, I suppose?"
"Yes, we were."
"Really? Was it interesting?"
"Extremely. We discovered the strangest things."
"What things?" asked the count, looking at his watch.
Rénine described what they had seen:
"On a tower some way from the house there were two dead bodies, two
skeletons rather ... a man and a woman still wearing the clothes which
they had on when they were murdered."
"Come, come, now! Murdered?"
"Yes; and that is what we have come to trouble you about. The tragedy
must date back to some twenty years ago. Was nothing known of it at
the time?"
"Certainly not," declared the count. "I never heard of any such crime or
disappearance."
"Oh, really!" said Rénine, looking a little disappointed. "I hoped to
obtain a few particulars."
"I'm sorry."
"In that case, I apologise."
He consulted Hortense with a glance and moved towards the door. But
on second thought:
"Could you not at least, my dear sir, bring me into touch with some
persons in the neighbourhood, some members of your family, who
might know more about it?"

"Of my family? And why?"
"Because the Domaine