This done, he said:
"My conclusions are confirmed. The countess was carried across here."
"Are you sure of it?" asked Plantat.
There was no mistaking the old man's hesitation this time; he was
clearly undecided, and leaned on the other's judgment for guidance.
"There can be no error, possibly."
The detective smiled, as he added:
"Only, as two heads are better than one, I will ask you to listen
to me, and then, you will tell me what you think."
M. Lecoq had, in searching about, picked up a little flexible stick,
and while he talked, he used it to point out this and that object,
like the lecturer at the panorama.
"No," said he, "Madame de Tremorel did not fly from her murderers.
Had she been struck down here, she would have fallen violently; her
weight, therefore, would have made the water spirt to some distance,
as well as the mud; and we should certainly have found some splashes."
"But don't you think that, since morning, the sun--"
"The sun would have absorbed the water; but the stain of dry mud
would have remained. I have found nothing of the sort anywhere.
You might object, that the water and mud would have spirted right
and left; but just look at the tufts of these flags, lilies, and
stems of cane--you find a light dust on every one.
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