he groaned. "Ah!" said Mme. Giry. "I always thought there were secrets between the
ghost and M. Poligny. Anything that the ghost asked M. Poligny to do
M. Poligny did. M. Poligny could refuse the ghost nothing." "You hear, Richard:  Poligny could refuse the ghost nothing." "Yes, yes, I hear!" said Richard. "M. Poligny is a friend of the
ghost; and, as Mme. Giry is a friend of M. Poligny, there we are! ... But I don't care a hang about M. Poligny," he added roughly. "The only
person whose fate really interests me is Mme. Giry...  Mme. Giry, do
you know what is in this envelope?" "Why, of course not," she said. "Well, look." Mine. Giry looked into the envelope with a lackluster eye, which soon
recovered its brilliancy. "Thousand-franc notes!" she cried. "Yes, Mme. Giry, thousand-franc notes! And you knew it!" "I, sir? I? ... I swear ..."

"Don't swear, Mme. Giry! ... And now I will tell you the second reason
why I sent for you. Mme. Giry, I am going to have you arrested." The two black feathers on the dingy bonnet, which usually affected the
attitude of two notes of interrogation, changed into two notes of
exclamation; as for the bonnet itself, it swayed in menace on the old
lady's tempestuous chignon. Surprise, indignation, protest and dismay
were furthermore displayed by little Meg's mother in a sort of
extravagant movement of offended virtue, half bound, half slide, that
brought her right under the nose of M. Richard, who could not help
pushing back his chair. "HAVE ME ARRESTED!" The mouth that spoke those words seemed to spit the three teeth that
were left to it into Richard's face. M. Richard behaved like a hero. He retreated no farther. His
threatening forefinger seemed already to be pointing out the keeper of
Box Five to the absent magistrates. "I am going to have you arrested, Mme. Giry, as a thief!" "Say that again!" And Mme. Giry caught Mr. Manager Richard a mighty box on the ear,
before Mr. Manager Moncharmin had time to intervene. But it was not
the withered hand of the angry old beldame that fell on the managerial
ear, but the envelope itself, the cause of all the trouble, the magic
envelope that opened with the blow, scattering the bank-notes, which
escaped in a fantastic whirl of giant butterflies. The two managers gave a shout, and the same thought made them both go
on their knees, feverishly, picking up and hurriedly examining the
precious scraps of paper. "Are they still genuine, Moncharmin?" "Are they still genuine, Richard?" "Yes, they are still genuine!" Above their heads, Mme. Giry's three teeth were clashing in a noisy
contest, full of hideous interjections. But all that could be clearly
distinguished was this LEIT-MOTIF:

"I, a thief! ... I, a thief, I?" She choked with rage. She shouted:

"I never heard of such a thing!" And, suddenly, she darted up to Richard again. "In any case," she yelped, "you, M. Richard, ought to know better than
I where the twenty thousand francs went to!" "I?" asked Richard, astounded. "And how should I know?" Moncharmin, looking severe and dissatisfied, at once insisted that the
good lady should explain herself. "What does this mean, Mme. Giry?" he asked. "And why do you say that
M. Richard ought to know better than you where the twenty-thousand
francs went to?" As for Richard, who felt himself turning red under Moncharmin's eyes,
he took Mme. Giry by the wrist and shook it violently. In a voice
growling and rolling like thunder, he roared:

"Why should I know better than you where the twenty-thousand francs
went to? Why? Answer me!" "Because they went into your pocket!" gasped the old woman, looking at
him as if he were the devil incarnate. Richard would have rushed upon Mme. Giry, if Moncharmin had not stayed
his avenging hand and hastened to ask her, more gently:

"How can you suspect my partner, M. Richard, of putting twenty-thousand
francs in his pocket?" "I never said that," declared Mme. Giry, "seeing that it was myself who
put the twenty-thousand francs into M. Richard's pocket." And she
added, under her voice, "There! It's out! ... And may the ghost
forgive me!" Richard began bellowing anew, but Moncharmin authoritatively ordered
him to be silent. "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." Mme. 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!" "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!"