At the Villa Rose, in Four acts

by A. E. W. Mason

The place: Aix-les-Bains, a lakeside town in southeast France, popular for vacations of the well-to-do. The players: (1) The young Englishman, Harry Wethermill, who, after a brilliant career at Oxford and at Munich, had applied his scientific genius and made a fortune for himself at the age of twenty-eight. (2) Mr. Ricardo, approaching the fifties in age; a widower — "a state greatly to his liking, for he avoided at once the irksomeness of marriage and the reproaches justly leveled at the bachelor; finally, he was rich, having amassed a fortune in Mincing Lane, which he had invested in profitable securities." (3) Celia Harland, the beautiful, free-spirited 19-year-old English traveling companion of wealthy Mme. Dauvray, and recently romantic companion of Wethermill. (4) Inspector Hanaud, the cleverest of French police detectives, on vacation at Aix-les-Bains. The newspaper article: "Late last night, an appalling murder was committed at the Villa Rose. Mme. Camille Dauvray, an elderly,