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BUT
,
THEN
,
one
day
in
March
,
Richis
was
sitting
in
the
salon
and
watched
as
Laure
walked
out
into
the
garden
.
She
was
wearing
a
blue
dress
,
her
red
hair
falling
down
over
it
and
blazing
in
the
sunlight-he
had
never
seen
her
look
so
beautiful
.
She
disappeared
behind
a
hedge
.
And
it
took
about
two
heartbeats
longer
than
he
had
expected
before
she
emerged
again-and
he
was
frightened
to
death
,
for
during
those
two
heartbeats
he
thought
he
had
lost
her
forever.That
same
night
he
awoke
out
of
a
terrifying
dream
,
the
details
of
which
he
could
no
longer
remember
,
but
it
had
had
to
do
with
Laure
,
and
he
burst
into
her
room
convinced
that
she
was
dead
,
lay
there
in
her
bed
murdered
,
violated
,
and
shorn-and
found
her
unharmed.He
went
back
to
his
chamber
,
bathed
in
sweat
and
trembling
with
agitation
,
no
,
not
with
agitation
,
but
with
fear
,
for
he
finally
admitted
it
to
himself
:
it
was
naked
fear
that
had
seized
him
,
and
in
admitting
it
he
grew
calmer
and
his
thoughts
clearer
.
To
be
honest
,
he
had
not
believed
in
the
efficacy
of
the
bishop
's
anathema
from
the
start
,
nor
that
the
murderer
was
now
prowling
about
Grenoble
,
nor
that
he
had
ever
left
town
.
No
,
he
was
still
living
here
,
among
the
citizens
of
Grasse
,
and
at
some
point
he
would
strike
again
.
Richis
had
seen
several
of
the
girls
murdered
during
August
and
September
.
The
sight
had
horrified
him
,
and
at
the
same
time
,
he
had
to
admit
,
fascinated
him
,
for
they
all
,
each
in
her
own
special
way
,
had
been
of
dazzling
beauty
.
He
never
would
have
thought
that
there
was
so
much
unrecognized
beauty
in
Grasse
.
The
murderer
had
opened
his
eyes
.
The
murderer
possessed
exquisite
taste
.
And
he
had
a
system
.
It
was
not
just
that
all
the
murders
had
been
carried
out
in
the
same
efficient
manner
,
but
the
very
choice
of
victims
betrayed
intentions
almost
economical
in
their
planning
.
To
be
sure
,
Richis
did
not
know
what
the
murderer
actually
craved
from
his
victims
,
since
he
could
not
have
robbed
them
of
the
best
that
they
offered-their
beauty
and
the
charm
of
youth
...
or
could
he
?
In
any
case
,
it
seemed
to
him
,
as
absurd
as
it
sounded
,
that
the
murderer
was
not
a
destructive
personality
,
but
rather
a
careful
collector
.
For
if
one
imagined-and
so
Richis
imagined-all
the
victims
not
as
single
individuals
,
but
as
parts
of
some
higher
principle
and
thought
of
each
one
's
characteristics
as
merged
in
some
idealistic
fashion
into
a
unifying
whole
,
then
the
picture
assembled
out
of
such
mosaic
pieces
would
be
the
picture
of
absolute
beauty
,
and
the
magic
that
radiated
from
it
would
no
longer
be
of
human
,
but
of
divine
origin
.
(
As
we
can
see
,
Richis
was
an
enlightened
thinker
who
did
not
shrink
from
blasphemous
conclusions
,
and
though
he
was
not
thinking
in
olfactory
categories
,
but
rather
in
visual
ones
,
he
was
nevertheless
very
near
the
truth
.
)
Assuming
then-Richis
continued
in
his
thoughts
-
that
the
murderer
was
just
such
a
collector
of
beauty
and
was
working
on
the
picture
of
perfection
,
even
if
only
in
the
fantasy
of
his
sick
brain
;
assuming
,
moreover
,
that
he
was
the
man
of
sublime
taste
and
perfect
methods
that
he
indeed
appeared
to
be-then
one
could
not
assume
that
he
would
waive
claim
to
the
most
precious
component
on
earth
needed
for
his
picture
:
the
beauty
of
Laure
.
His
entire
previous
homicidal
work
would
be
worth
nothing
without
her
.
She
was
the
keystone
to
his
building.As
he
drew
this
horrifying
conclusion
,
Richis
was
sitting
in
his
nightshirt
on
the
edge
of
his
bed
,
and
he
was
amazed
at
how
calm
he
had
become
.
He
no
longer
felt
chilled
,
was
no
longer
trembling
.
The
vague
fear
that
had
plagued
him
for
weeks
had
vanished
and
was
replaced
by
the
awareness
of
a
specific
danger
:
Laure
had
quite
obviously
been
the
goal
of
all
the
murderer
's
endeavors
from
the
beginning
.
And
all
the
other
murders
were
adjuncts
to
the
last
,
crowning
murder
.
It
remained
quite
unclear
what
material
purpose
these
murders
were
intended
to
serve
or
if
they
even
had
one
at
all
.
But
Richis
had
perceived
the
essence
of
the
matter
:
the
murderer
's
systematic
method
and
his
idealistic
motive
.
The
longer
he
thought
about
it
,
the
better
both
of
these
pleased
him
and
the
greater
his
admiration
for
the
murderer-an
admiration
,
admittedly
,
that
reflected
back
upon
him
as
would
a
polished
mirror
,
for
after
all
,
it
was
he
,
Richis
,
who
had
picked
up
his
opponent
's
trail
with
his
own
refined
and
analytical
powers
of
reasoning.If
he
,
Richis
,
had
been
the
murderer
and
were
himself
possessed
by
the
murderer
's
passions
and
ideas
,
he
would
not
have
been
able
to
proceed
in
any
other
fashion
than
had
been
employed
thus
far
,
and
like
him
,
he
would
do
his
utmost
to
crown
his
mad
work
with
the
murder
of
the
unique
and
splendid
Laure.This
last
thought
appealed
to
him
especially
.
Because
he
was
in
the
position
to
put
himself
inside
the
mind
of
the
would-be
murderer
of
his
daughter
,
he
had
made
himself
vastly
superior
to
the
murderer
.
For
all
his
intelligence
,
that
much
was
certain
,
the
murderer
was
not
in
the
position
to
put
himself
inside
Richis
's
mind-if
only
because
he
could
not
even
begin
to
suspect
that
Richis
had
long
since
imagined
himself
in
the
murderer
's
own
situation
.
This
was
fundamentally
no
different
from
how
things
worked
in
business-mutatis
mutandis
,
to
be
sure
.
You
were
master
of
a
competitor
whose
intentions
you
had
seen
through
;
there
was
no
way
he
could
get
the
better
of
you-not
if
your
name
was
Antoine
Richis
,
and
you
were
a
natural
fighter
,
a
seasoned
fighter
.
After
all
,
the
largest
wholesale
perfume
business
in
France
,
his
wealth
,
his
office
as
second
consul
,
these
had
not
fallen
into
his
lap
as
gracious
gifts
,
but
he
had
fought
for
them
,
with
doggedness
and
deceit
,
recognizing
dangers
ahead
of
time
,
shrewdly
guessing
his
competitors
'
plans
,
and
outdistancing
his
opponents
.
And
in
just
the
same
way
he
would
achieve
his
future
goals
,
power
and
noble
rank
for
his
heirs
.
And
in
no
other
way
would
he
counter
the
plans
of
the
murderer
,
his
competitor
for
the
possession
of
Laure-if
only
because
Laure
was
also
the
keystone
in
the
edifice
of
his
,
of
Richis
's
,
own
plans
.
He
loved
her
,
certainly
;
but
he
needed
her
as
well
.
And
he
would
let
no
one
wrest
from
him
whatever
it
was
he
needed
to
realize
his
own
highest
ambitions-he
would
hold
on
tooth
and
claw
to
that.He
felt
better
now
Having
succeeded
by
these
nocturnal
deliberations
in
bringing
his
struggle
with
the
demon
down
to
the
level
of
a
business
rivalry
,
he
felt
fresh
courage
,
indeed
arrogance
,
take
hold
of
him.The
last
remnants
of
fear
were
gone
,
the
despondency
and
anxious
care
that
had
tormented
him
into
doddering
senility
had
vanished
,
the
fog
of
gloomy
forebodings
in
which
he
had
tapped
about
for
weeks
had
lifted
.
He
found
himself
on
familiar
terrain
and
felt
himself
equal
to
every
challenge
.
RELIEVED
,
ALMOST
elated
,
he
sprang
from
his
bed
,
pulled
the
bell
rope
,
and
ordered
the
drowsy
valet
who
staggered
into
his
room
to
pack
clothes
and
provisions
because
at
daybreak
he
intended
to
set
out
for
Grenoble
in
the
company
of
his
daughter
.
Then
he
dressed
and
chased
the
rest
of
the
servants
from
their
beds.In
the
middle
of
the
night
,
the
house
on
the
rue
Droite
awoke
and
bustled
with
life
.
The
fire
blazed
up
in
the
kitchen
,
excited
maids
scurried
along
the
corridors
,
servants
dashed
up
and
down
the
stairs
,
in
the
vaulted
cellars
the
keys
of
the
steward
rattled
,
in
the
courtyard
torches
shone
,
grooms
ran
among
the
horses
,
others
tugged
mules
from
their
stalls
,
there
was
bridling
and
saddling
and
running
and
loading
--
one
would
have
almost
believed
that
the
Austro-Sardinian
hordes
were
on
the
march
,
pillaging
and
torching
,
just
as
in
1746
,
and
that
the
lord
of
the
manor
was
mobilizing
to
flee
in
panic
.
Not
at
all
!
The
lord
of
the
manor
was
sitting
at
his
office
desk
,
as
sovereign
as
a
marshal
of
France
,
drinking
cafe
au
lait
,
and
providing
instructions
for
the
constant
stream
of
domestics
barging
in
on
him
.
All
the
while
,
he
wrote
letters
to
the
mayor
,
to
the
first
consul
,
to
his
secretary
,
to
his
solicitor
,
to
his
banker
in
Marseille
,
to
the
baron
de
Bouyon
,
and
to
diverse
business
partners.By
around
six
that
morning
,
he
had
completed
his
correspondence
and
given
all
the
orders
necessary
to
carry
out
his
plans
.
He
tucked
away
two
small
traveling
pistols
,
buckled
on
his
money
belt
,
and
locked
his
desk
.
Then
he
went
to
awaken
his
daughter.By
eight
o'clock
,
the
little
caravan
was
on
the
move
.
Richis
rode
at
its
head
;
he
was
a
splendid
sight
in
his
gold-braided
,
burgundy
coat
beneath
a
black
riding
coat
and
black
hat
with
jaunty
feathers
.
He
was
followed
by
his
daughter
,
dressed
less
showily
,
but
so
radiantly
beautiful
that
the
people
along
the
street
and
at
the
windows
had
eyes
only
for
her
,
their
fervent
ah
's
and
oh
's
passing
through
the
crowd
while
the
men
doffed
their
hats-apparently
for
the
second
consul
,
but
in
reality
for
her
,
the
regal
woman
.
Then
,
almost
unnoticed
,
came
her
maid
,
then
Richis
's
valet
with
two
packhorses-the
notoriously
bad
condition
of
the
road
to
Grenoble
meant
that
a
wagon
could
not
be
used-and
the
end
of
the
parade
was
drawn
up
by
a
dozen
mules
laden
with
all
sorts
of
stuff
and
supervised
by
two
grooms
.
At
the
Porte
du
Cours
the
watch
presented
arms
and
only
let
them
drop
when
the
last
mule
had
tramped
by
.
Children
ran
behind
them
for
a
good
little
while
,
waving
at
the
baggage
crew
as
they
slowly
moved
up
the
steep
,
winding
road
into
the
mountains.The
departure
of
Antoine
Richis
and
his
daughter
made
a
strange
but
deep
impression
on
people
.
It
was
as
if
they
had
witnessed
some
archaic
sacrificial
procession
.
The
word
spread
that
Richis
was
going
to
Grenoble
,
to
the
very
city
where
the
monster
who
murdered
young
girls
was
now
residing
.
People
did
not
know
what
to
think
about
that
.
Did
what
Richis
was
doing
show
criminal
negligence
or
admirable
courage
?
Was
he
daring
or
placating
the
gods
?
They
had
only
the
vague
foreboding
that
they
had
just
seen
this
beautiful
girl
with
the
red
hair
for
the
last
time
.
They
suspected
that
Laure
Richis
might
be
lost
.
This
suspicion
would
prove
correct
,
although
the
presumptions
it
was
based
upon
were
completely
false
.
Richis
was
not
heading
for
Grenoble
at
all
.
The
pompous
departure
was
nothing
but
a
diversionary
tactic
.
A
mile
and
a
half
northwest
of
Grasse
,
near
the
village
of
Saint-Vallier
,
he
ordered
a
halt
.
He
handed
his
valet
letters
of
attorney
and
transmittal
and
ordered
him
to
bring
the
mule
train
and
grooms
to
Grenoble
by
himself.He
,
however
,
turned
off
with
Laure
and
her
maid
in
the
direction
of
Cabris
,
where
they
rested
at
midday
,
and
then
rode
straight
across
the
mountains
of
the
Tanneron
toward
the
south
.
The
path
was
an
extremely
arduous
one
,
but
it
allowed
them
to
circumvent
Grasse
and
its
basin
in
a
great
arc
and
to
arrive
on
the
coast
by
evening
without
being
recognized
...
The
following
day-according
to
Richis
's
plan-he
would
ferry
across
with
Laure
to
the
lies
de
Lerins
,
on
the
smaller
of
which
was
located
the
well-fortified
monastery
of
Saint-Honorat
.
It
was
managed
by
a
handful
of
elderly
but
quite
ablebodied
monks
whom
Richis
knew
very
well
,
since
for
years
he
had
bought
and
resold
the
monastery
's
total
production
of
eucalyptus
cordial
,
pine
nuts
,
and
cypress
oil
.
And
there
in
the
monastery
of
Saint-Honorat-which
except
for
the
prison
of
Chateau
d'lf
and
the
state
prison
on
the
He
Sainte-Marguerite
was
probably
the
safest
place
in
the
Provence-he
intended
to
lodge
his
daughter
for
the
present
.
But
he
would
immediately
return
to
the
mainland
,
this
time
circumventing
Grasse
on
the
east
via
Antibes
and
Cagnes
,
and
arrive
in
Vence
by
evening
of
the
same
day
.
He
had
ordered
his
secretary
to
proceed
there
in
order
to
prepare
the
agreement
with
baron
de
Bouyon
concerning
the
marriage
of
their
children
Laure
and
Alphonse
.
He
hoped
to
make
Bouyon
an
offer
that
he
could
not
refuse
:
assumption
of
his
debts
up
to
forty
thousand
livres
,
a
dowry
consisting
of
an
equal
sum
as
well
as
diverse
landhold-ings
and
an
oil
mill
near
Maganosc
,
a
yearly
income
of
three
thousand
livres
for
the
young
couple
.
Richis
's
only
conditions
were
that
the
marriage
should
take
place
within
ten
days
and
be
consummated
on
the
wedding
day
,
and
that
the
couple
should
thereafter
take
up
residence
in
Vence.Richis
knew
that
in
acting
so
hastily
he
was
driving
the
price
excessively
high
for
the
union
of
his
house
with
the
house
of
Bouyon
.
He
would
have
got
it
cheaper
had
he
waited
longer
.
The
baron
would
have
begged
for
permission
to
raise
the
social
rank
of
the
daughter
of
a
bourgeois
wholesaler
through
a
marriage
to
his
son
,
for
the
fame
of
Laure
's
beauty
would
only
grow
,
just
as
would
Richis
's
wealth
and
Bouyon
's
financial
miseries
.
But
what
did
that
matter
!
His
opponent
in
this
deal
was
not
the
baron
,
but
the
unknown
murderer
.
He
was
the
one
whose
business
had
to
be
spoiled
.
A
married
woman
,
deflowered
and
if
possible
already
pregnant
,
would
no
longer
fit
into
his
exclusive
gallery
.
The
last
mosaic
stone
would
be
tarnished
,
Laure
would
have
lost
all
value
for
the
murderer
,
his
enterprise
would
have
failed
.
And
he
was
to
feel
his
defeat
!
Richis
wanted
to
hold
the
wedding
ceremony
in
Grasse
,
with
great
pomp
and
open
to
the
public
And
even
if
he
could
not
know
his
adversary
,
would
never
know
him
,
he
would
take
personal
pleasure
in
knowing
that
he
was
in
attendance
at
the
event
and
would
have
to
watch
with
his
own
eyes
as
that
which
he
most
desired
was
snatched
away
from
under
his
nose.The
plan
was
nicely
thought
out
.
And
once
again
we
must
admire
Richis
's
acumen
for
coming
so
close
to
the
truth
.
For
in
point
of
fact
the
marriage
of
Laure
Richis
to
the
son
of
the
baron
de
Bouyon
would
have
meant
a
devastating
defeat
for
the
murderer
of
the
maidens
of
Grasse
.
But
the
plan
was
not
yet
carried
out
.
Richis
had
not
yet
rescued
his
daughter
by
marrying
her
off
.
He
had
not
yet
ferried
her
across
to
the
safety
of
the
monastery
of
Saint-Honorat
.
The
three
riders
were
still
passing
through
the
inhospitable
mountains
of
the
Tanneron
.
Sometimes
the
path
was
so
bad
that
they
had
to
dismount
from
their
horses
.
It
was
all
going
too
slowly
.
By
evening
,
they
hoped
to
reach
the
sea
near
La
Napoule
,
a
small
town
west
of
Cannes
.
