"I protested that every woman on the platform was dressed in black.

"'Indeed I am so sorry,' she said, laughing; and she continued to
laugh until she began to breathe so quickly that I thought she was
going to faint.

"I can see now that the last part of that journey must have been a
terrible half hour for her. She had the cigar-case safe enough, but
she knew that she herself was not safe. She understood if I were to
open my bag, even at the last minute, and miss the case, I would know
positively that she had taken it. I had placed the diamonds in the bag
at the very moment she entered the compartment, and no one but our two
selves had occupied it since. She knew that when we reached Marseilles
she would either be twenty thousand pounds richer than when she left
Paris, or that she would go to jail. That was the situation as she
must have read it, and I don't envy her her state of mind during that
last half hour. It must have been hell.

"I saw that something was wrong, and in my innocence I even wondered
if possibly my cognac had not been a little too strong. For she
suddenly developed into a most brilliant conversationalist, and
applauded and laughed at everything I said, and fired off questions at
me like a machine gun, so that I had no time to think of anything but
of what she was saying. Whenever I stirred she stopped her chattering
and leaned toward me, and watched me like a cat over a mouse-hole. I
wondered how I could have considered her an agreeable travelling
companion. I thought I would have preferred to be locked in with a
lunatic. I don't like to think how she would have acted if I had made
a move to examine the bag, but as I had it safely strapped around me