"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!"
"Aha!" said Richard, suddenly assuming a swaggering air which
Moncharmin did not like. "I knew nothing either! You put
twenty-thousand francs in my pocket and I knew nothing either! I am
very glad to hear it, Mme. Giry!"
"Yes," the terrible dame agreed, "yes, it's true. We neither of us
knew anything. But you, you must have ended by finding out!"
Richard would certainly have swallowed Mme. Giry alive, if Moncharmin
had not been there! But Moncharmin protected her. He resumed his
questions: "What sort of envelope did you put in M. Richard's pocket? It was not
the one which we gave you, the one which you took to Box Five before
our eyes; and yet that was the one which contained the twenty-thousand
francs."
"I beg your pardon. The envelope which M. le Directeur gave me was the
one which I slipped into M. le Directeur's pocket," explained Mme.
Giry. "The one which I took to the ghost's box was another envelope,
just like it, which the ghost gave me beforehand and which I hid up my
sleeve."
So saying, Mme. Giry took from her sleeve an envelope ready prepared
and similarly addressed to that containing the twenty-thousand francs.
The managers took it from her. They examined it and saw that it was
fastened with seals stamped with their own managerial seal. They
opened it. It contained twenty Bank of St. Farce notes like those
which had so much astounded them the month before.
"How simple!" said Richard.
"How simple!" repeated Moncharmin. And he continued with his eyes
fixed upon Mme. Giry, as though trying to hypnotize her.
"So it was the ghost who gave you this envelope and told you to
substitute it for the one which we gave you? And it was the ghost who
told you to put the other into M. Richard's pocket?"
"Yes, it was the ghost."
"Then would you mind giving us a specimen of your little talents? Here
is the envelope. Act as though we knew nothing."
"As you please, gentlemen."
Mme. Giry took the envelope with the twenty notes inside it and made
for the door. She was on the point of going out when the two managers
rushed at her: "Oh, no! Oh, no! We're not going to be 'done' a second time! Once
bitten, twice shy!"
"I beg your pardon, gentlemen," said the old woman, in self-excuse,
"you told me to act as though you knew nothing ... Well, if you knew
nothing, I should go away with your envelope!"
"And then how would you slip it into my pocket?" argued Richard, whom
Moncharmin fixed with his left eye, while keeping his right on Mme.
Giry: a proceeding likely to strain his sight, but Moncharmin was
prepared to go to any length to discover the truth.