“When you told me that a ‘ roman policier ’ occurs in real life.”

“And I was right, was I not?” he challenged her, with an emphatic forefinger. “Here we are, plunged in the middle of one. That is natural for me⁠—it is my métier ⁠—but for you it is different. Yes,” he added in a reflective tone, “for you it is different.”

She looked sharply at him. It was as though he were warning her, pointing out to her some menace that she had not seen.

“Why do you say that I am in the middle of it? It is true that I had that conversation with Mrs. Kettering just before she died, but now⁠—now all that is over. I am not connected with the case any more.”

“Ah, Mademoiselle, Mademoiselle, can we ever say, ‘I have finished with this or that’?”