“Allow me! Allow me! Let the woman explain herself. Let me question her.” And he added: “It is really astonishing that you should take up such a tone!⁠ ⁠… We are on the verge of clearing up the whole mystery. And you’re in a rage!⁠ ⁠… You’re wrong to behave like that.⁠ ⁠… I’m enjoying myself immensely.”

Mame Giry, like the martyr that she was, raised her head, her face beaming with faith in her own innocence.

“You tell me there were twenty-thousand francs in the envelope which I put into M. Richard’s pocket; but I tell you again that I knew nothing about it.⁠ ⁠… Nor M. Richard either, for that matter!”