No, Elizabeth, do believe me, if I was the cause
of your horrified surprise the other day, and then of your imprisonment,
I wished to be sure that you were as safe as it was possible to be;
then, freed from such intense anxiety, I felt I should be at liberty to
continue my investigations.... Do say you forgive me!"

All Elizabeth could say was:

"But why not have warned me?... I still can't quite see!..."

"Why, because, I only thought of the plan at the last moment! Also,
because I feared you might not be able to act surprise naturally
enough!... It was absolutely--yes, absolutely necessary--that everyone
should take your arrest seriously.... Surely, Elizabeth, you can
understand that!"

He repeated his plea.

"Do, do say you forgive me, Elizabeth!"

The smile returned to Elizabeth's lips: she was much moved.

"Indeed, I do... You are always my very good friend: you think of
everything, and you watch over me as if ..."

Intimidated, blushing hotly, she stopped short, then changed the
conversation.

"Do tell me if you have heard anything fresh!"

Fandor returned to his normal self also. He had sworn to himself that he
would not tell Elizabeth he loved her, until he had succeeded in
unravelling the tangled skein of the terrible Dollon affair.

"I shall speak," thought he, "when she is once more at peace and free,
when she is out of danger. I do not want her to consent to love me just
because I have devoted myself to her brother's case. Elizabeth shall be
my wife, please God; but only if I deserve her, if I can win her."

And Jerome Fandor told her the story of the famous wicker trunk--but he
did not mention Thomery's death, nor did he speak of the horrible murder
of Jules.... What was the use of saddening Elizabeth, of adding
needlessly to her terrors? Instead, he thought it better to learn what
he could from her.

"I have not found that famous list!" said he.

"Oh, I beg your pardon!" cried Elizabeth. "I was so worried!... Just
imagine that, I found the list after all, and I thought I had lost it!
It was in one of my little handbags. I had put it there to bring to you.
Here it is: they were quite willing to let me keep it!"

Fandor eagerly took the paper from Elizabeth and proceeded to examine
it. Yes, it certainly was a page torn from a note-book of medium size.
An unknown hand had traced the following words in bold writing. The
names succeeded one another in the form of a list.

_Baroness de V