was going on in his mind I could not guess, nor did he betray it,
but quickly he enumerated the objects on the table, gradually
slowing up as the number which he recollected became exhausted.

"Were there candles?" prompted Craig, as the flow of Francois's
description ceased.

"Oh yes, candles," he agreed, eagerly.

"Favors at each place?"

"Yes, sir."

I could see no sense in the proceeding, yet knew Kennedy too well
to suppose, for an instant, that he had not some purpose.

The questioning over, Kennedy withdrew, leaving poor Francois more
mystified than ever.

"Well," I exclaimed, as we passed through the dining-room, "what
was all that?"

"That," he explained, "is what is known to criminologists as the
'Aussage test.' Just try it some time when you get a chance. If
there are, say, fifty objects in a picture, normally a person may
recall perhaps twenty of them."

"I see," I interrupted; "a test of memory."

"More than that," he replied. "You remember that, at the end, I