A few more questions, mainly personal, as to his address,
business, probable presence in Paris for the next few weeks, and
M. Lafolay was permitted to depart.

The examination of the younger Frenchman, a smart, alert young
man, of pleasant, insinuating address, with a quick, inquisitive
eye, followed the same lines, and was distinctly corroborative on
all the points to which M. Lafolay spoke. But M. Jules Devaux had
something startling to impart concerning the Countess.

When asked if he had seen her or spoken to her, he shook his head.

"No; she kept very much to herself," he said. "I saw her but
little, hardly at all, except at Modane. She kept her own berth."

"Where she received her own friends?"

"Oh, beyond doubt. The Englishmen both visited her there, but not
the Italian."

"The Italian? Are we to infer that she knew the Italian?"

"That is what I wish to convey. Not on the journey, though.
Between Rome and Paris she did not seem to know him. It was
afterwards; this morning, in fact, that I came to the conclusion
that there was some secret understanding between them."

"Why do you say that, M. Devaux?" cried the detective, excitedly.
"Let me urge you and implore you to speak out, and fully. This is
of the utmost, of the very first, importance."