nt of turning her
interest wholly to the game when her eyes fell on Amelie. Instantly she
flushed with excitement, paled again and flushed once more, and I was
the next moment aware of a rapid movement of her arm as she snatched
from the neck of Amelie an ornament that hung there from a thin gold
chain.

"You can imagine the excited confusion that ensued, the outcome of which
is my attendance here to account, so far as I may, for the disturbance
in which I have been involved."

M. Lesueur acknowledged die straightforward simplicity of the old
gentleman's story with a slight bow.

"Your name, sir?" he asked.

"Widiershaw. I am an Englishman."

"Did you know any of these persons before this afternoon?"

"Yes and no. Yes--because the lady who assaulted Amelie in the Casino
turns out to be the widow of a relative of mine, and her name, although
not her person, is quite familiar to me. No--because my acquaintance
with Mdlle Amelie predated by an hour only our visit to the Casino. This
gentleman I have never seen before."

The Commissary suddenly recalled his waiting motor-cars, his telephoned
appointment, his sensational prospects at the Chateau de la Hourmerie.
Between him and the door of his room was an excited and perspiring
crowd, not the least awesome members of which were the two angry ladies.
By ill-luck his second in command was ill and away from work. Next in
seniority came an official, competent enough to deal with ordinary cases
of theft, disturbance, or general misdemeanour, but hardly to be trusted
with an affair deserving of delicate and cautious management. M. Lesueur
felt obscurely that the present was an affair of that kind. The parties
to it were not only well dressed, but (with the possible exception of
Amelie, whose social complacency the evidence of Mr. Withershaw appeared
to have established) suggestive of good breeding, or at least of
normal good behaviour. It would not do, thanks to the inexperience of
a subordinate, to involve the Commissariat of St. Hilaire in
unpleasantness with foreigners of influence and distinction.

With a sigh of impatience M. Lesueur turned again to his chair and sat
down. He gave an order to the gendarme at his elbow:

"Telephone Toussaint that I am delayed, that I will be at La Hourmerie
half an hour later than I said. Perhaps forty minutes. The cars can
wait."

He spoke in a low voice, but not so low that the quick ear of Amelie did
not catch the words "La Hou