here. The hoof marks would show any alarm in the animal, and,
moreover, if it had stopped in fright there would have been an
inevitable recoil which would have thrown the wheels of the
vehicle backward out of their track. No moving animal, man
included, stopped by fright fails to register this recoil. We
always look for it in evidences of violent assault. Footprints
invariably show it, and one learns thereby, unerringly, the
direction of the attack."

He rose, his hand still extended and upon my arm.

"There is only one possible explanation," he added. "Something
happened in the cut-under to throw it violently about in the
road, and it happened with the horse undisturbed and the vehicle
standing still. The wheel tracks are widened only at one point,
showing a transverse but no lateral movement of the vehicle."

"A struggle?" I cried. "Major Carrington was right, Madame
Barras has been attacked by the driver!"

Marquis' hand held me firmly in the excitement of that
realization. He was entirely composed. There was even a drawl
in his voice as he answered me.

"Major Carrington, whoever he may be," he said, "is wrong; if we
exclude a third party, it was Madame Barras who attacked the
driver."

His fingers tightened under my obvious protest.