But it is quite clear, I think, that it was not he who opened the house to the murderers, for he was at Chambery in the evening, and the murder was already discovered here by midnight.

Moreover--it is a small point--he lives, not in the house, but over the garage in a corner of the garden.
Then besides the chauffeur there was a charwoman, a woman of Aix, who came each morning at seven and left in the evening at seven or eight.
Sometimes she would stay later if the maid was alone in the house, for the maid is nervous.

But she left last night before nine--there is evidence of that--and the murder did not take place until afterwards.
That is also a fact, not a conjecture.

We can leave the charwoman, who for the rest has the best of characters, out of our calculations.

There remain then, the maid, Helene Vauquier, and"-- he shrugged his shoulders--"Mlle.