him about it. He was greatly distressed, and said he had never seen
the importance of the secret. He remembered he had told several people
of it, and among others the Princess Zichy. In that way I found out
that it was she who had robbed me, and I know that from the moment I
left London she was following me and that she knew then that the
diamonds were concealed in my cigar-case.

"My train for Nice left Paris at ten in the morning. When I travel at
night I generally tell the _chef de gare_ that I am a Queen's
Messenger, and he gives me a compartment to myself, but in the daytime
I take whatever offers. On this morning I had found an empty
compartment, and I had tipped the guard to keep every one else out,
not from any fear of losing the diamonds, but because I wanted to
smoke. He had locked the door, and as the last bell had rung I
supposed I was to travel alone, so I began to arrange my traps and
make myself comfortable. The diamonds in the cigar-case were in the
inside pocket of my waistcoat, and as they made a bulky package, I
took them out, intending to put them in my hand bag. It is a small
satchel like a bookmaker's, or those hand bags that couriers carry. I
wear it slung from a strap across my shoulder, and, no matter whether
I am sitting or walking, it never leaves me.

"I took the cigar-case which held the necklace from my inside pocket
and the case which held the cigars out of the satchel, and while I was
searching through it for a box of matches I laid the two cases beside
me on the seat.

"At that moment the train started, but at the same instant there was a
rattle at the lock of the compartment, and a couple of porters lifted
and shoved a woman through the door, and hurled her rugs and umbrellas