perhaps by those who compel him to accept the responsibility for
all those horrible crimes you know about._

_To-day, whilst I was in Paris on business, some people, of whom I
know nothing, I need hardly say, whom not a soul in the private
boarding-house where I am saw, these persons entered my room!_

_I found all my belongings turned upside down; my papers scattered
over the floor, every drawer and trunk and box ransacked from top
to bottom!_

_You can guess how frightened I was...._

_I do not think they had come to do me any personal harm, not even
to rob me, for I had left my modest jewellery on the mantelpiece
and found them still there: those who entered my room did not covet
valuables._

_Then, why did they come?_

_You are perhaps going to say that my imagination is playing me
tricks!... Nevertheless, I assure you that I try to keep calm, but
I cannot keep control of myself, and I am terribly afraid!_

_I have just said that nothing was stolen from me; I think,
however, it right to mention one strange coincidence._

_I was convinced that I had left, in a little red pocket-book, the
list I spoke to you of, which had been retrieved at my brother's
house on the day of Madame de Vibray's death. It was, as I have
told you, written in green ink by a person whose handwriting I do
not know. I can hardly tell why, but amidst all the disorders in my
room I immediately searched for this list. The little pocket-book
was on the floor amongst other papers, but the list was not to be
found in it._

_Am I mistaken? Have I packed it in somewhere else, or, allowing
for the fact that everything had been turned upside down, has this
paper slipped among other papers, which would explain why I had not
come across it again?_

_In spite of myself, I must confess to you that the thieves, I
fancy, had only one aim in view when they entered my room, and that
was to get hold of this list._

_What is your opinion?_

_I feel that perhaps I am about to show myself both inconsiderate
and injudicious, but you know how miserable I am, and you will
understand how the position I am in gives me grounds for being
distracted. I am bent on talking this over with you, on knowing
what you think of it. Perhaps even, knowing how clever you are