woman, explaining to her some intricate manipulation of
the work in hand which was evidently quite new to her. He could see him
very plainly, but her figure was more or less hidden. Not for long
though. The superintendent passed on and she came into full view. It was
Antoinette Duclos. He was confident of this even before he noted her
dress. When his eyes fell on that, he was sure; there was no mistaking
the stripes and the dots. Antoinette Duclos! and she was where he could
reach her in five minutes--in fact as soon as the superintendent
returned. As he stood and watched her working quite assiduously but in
something like isolation, he felt as though ten years had slipped from
his age, and trifled with his pleasure as the rest of us do when we
behold a despaired-of goal loom suddenly in sight. Was she the woman he
had pictured in his mind's eye? Hardly. Yet there was an admirable
directness in her movements. From the way she went about things, he could
plainly see that she would master her duties in no time if Fate did not
interpose to prevent. It certainly was hard to interrupt her in her work
just when she was on the way to safety and competence. But there could be
no question of his duty, or of the claims of Mr. Roberts to whatever help
might accrue from an understanding of the relation of this woman to
events threatening his reputation with such utter destruction. Her story
might free him from all suspicion or it might actually determine his
guilt. Therefore her story must be had, and at once--if possible, this
very night.

But he must wait--wait for the coming of the superintendent. He felt safe
to do this. Meanwhile he was determined not to let this woman out of his
sight; so, drawing up a chair, he settled down within view of her active
figure, from which all rigidity had vanished in the interest she was
rapidly developing in her work. If he could have seen her countenance
more clearly, he would have been glad. There seemed to be a veil between
him and it, a hazy indistinctness which he found it difficult to
understand; but remembering that he was looking through two windows and
on a long diagonal, he accepted this slight drawback with equanimity and
was about to indulge in the comfort of a cigar when he saw the scene he
still held in view change, and change vividly, to the excitation of a
fresh interest and a still more careful watch.

A girl had approached Madame Duclos from some place quite out of sight,
an