yourself. Quick, quick. What in God's name do you mean?"

"I had my suspicions from the first, and I will tell you why. At Laroche
the car emptied, as you may have heard; every one except the Countess,
at least, went over to the restaurant for early coffee; I with the rest.
I was one of the first to finish, and I strolled back to the platform to
get a few whiffs of a cigarette. At that moment I saw, or thought I saw,
the end of a skirt disappearing into the sleeping-car. I concluded it
was this maid, Hortense, who was taking her mistress a cup of coffee.
Then my brother came up, we exchanged a few words, and entered the car
together."

"By the same door as that through which you had seen the skirt pass?"

"No, by the other. My brother went back to his berth, but I paused in
the corridor to finish my cigarette after the train had gone on. By this
time every one but myself had returned to his berth, and I was on the
point of lying down again for half an hour, when I distinctly heard the
handle turned of the compartment I knew to be vacant all through the
run."

"That was the one with berths 11 and 12?"

"Probably. It was next to the Countess. Not only was the handle turned,
but the door partly opened--"

"It was not the porter?"

"Oh, no, he was in his seat,--you know it, at the end of the car,--sound
asleep, snoring; I could hear him."