Once more, I ordered the man to leave my house.... It was all in vain. He defied me, and remained.
"It is useless for you to deny anything," he continued, relentlessly. "I know you well.... I know everything about the murder, I tell you.... Don't attempt to deny anything. Listen: I followed you from Bellevue; when you went to meet your lover Rossignol, I saw you. You took the train and reached the Saint-Lazare Station. I was in the same train; I did not lose sight of you; I watched you at the station while you walked about, in the 'Hall of the Lost Steps.'
"Rossignol arrived, saw you, rushed to you and you kissed him. Together you went to a restaurant in the Rue du Hâvre, outside the station. You talked very softly, but I sat at the table just behind you, and I overheard the conversation. You two were talking about the crime. Then you gave each other a _rendez-vous_.... Is that enough? Do you realise now the futility of a denial? Speak, speak...!"
I summoned whatever strength I had left, and said: "I have nothing to tell you, Monsieur." I turned to M. de Labruyère: "You must tell M. Bunau-Varilla that I insist upon his sending one of his men here to-morrow morning, to go with me to the Police Commissary of this district.... And then this infamous plot will recoil on the heads of those who have conceived it."
M. de Labruyère did his best to calm me, and kept on saying in the most apologetic and kindly manner: "Don't be angry.... I don't know anything about this fantastic affair.... I am sure now there must be some awful mistake."
M. Sauerwein had not done yet: "I have spoken the truth. The facts I stated are undeniable."... Then abruptly changing his tone, he remarked with hypocritical sympathy: "Oh! I quite understand how painful it is for you to confess.... It must be hard for a society woman to admit that she once had a 'weakness' for a man of low origin."
This was more than I could stand. I walked up to M. Sauerwein: "If you do not leave this house instantly, I shall send for the police."
The two journalists beat a hasty retreat.
Hardly had I heard the gate shut behind them, than Mariette came to tell me that M. de Labruyère had returned. Before I could say that I refused to see him again, he came in himself.