' So I went down," etc.,
etc.
"Are you convinced?" asked M. Segmuller.
The old offender's assurance was sensibly diminished by this proof
of her prevarication. However, instead of discussing the subject any
further, the magistrate glided over it as if he did not attach much
importance to the incident.
"And the other men," he resumed, "those who were killed: did you know
them?"
"No, good sir, no more than I knew Adam and Eve."
"And were you not surprised to see three men utterly unknown to you, and
accompanied by two women, enter your establishment?"
"Sometimes chance--"
"Come! you do not think of what you are saying. It was not chance that
brought these customers, in the middle of the night, to a wine-shop
with a reputation like yours--an establishment situated far from any
frequented route in the midst of a desolate waste."
"I'm not a sorceress; I say what I think."
"Then you did not even know the youngest of the victims, the man who was
attired as a soldier, he who was named Gustave?"
"Not at all."
M. Segmuller noted the intonation of this response, and then slowly
added: "But you must have heard of one of Gustave's friends, a man
called Lacheneur?"
On hearing this name, the landlady of the Poivriere became visibly
embarrassed, and it was in an altered voice that she stammered:
"Lacheneur! Lacheneur! no, I have never heard that name mentioned."
Still despite her denial, the effect of M. Segmuller's remark was
evident, and Lecoq secretly vowed that he would find this Lacheneur, at
any cost.
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