resentment when he finds
that a rival has scored a point.

"Our friend lives at the Hotel des Etrangers, near the corner of the
Boulevard St. Michel," went on Gibelin. "I _happened_ to be talking with
the man who sent out the banquet invitations and he told me. M. Kittredge
has a little room with a brick floor up six flights. And long! And black!"
He rubbed his knees ruefully. "But it was worth the trouble. Ah, yes!" His
small eyes brightened.

"You examined his things?"

"_Pour sur!_ I spent an hour there. And talked the soul out of the
chambermaid. A good-looking wench! And a sharp one!" he chuckled. "_She_
knows the value of a ten-franc piece!"

"Well, well," broke in M. Paul, "what did you discover?"

[Illustration: "Gibelin beamed. 'The old school has its good points, after
all.'"]

Gibelin lifted his pudgy hands deprecatingly. "For one thing I discovered a
photograph of the woman who was in Number Six with Martinez."

"The devil!" cried Coquenil.

"It is not of much importance, since already you have the woman's name and
address." He shot a keen glance at his rival.

M. Paul was silent. What humiliation was this! No doubt Gibelin had heard
the truth and was gloating over it!

"How do you know it is the woman's photograph?" questioned the judge.

"I'll tell you," replied Gibelin, delighted with his sensation. "It's quite
a story. I suppose you know that when this woman slipped out of the
Ansonia, she drove directly to the house where we arrested the American.
You knew that?" He turned to Coquenil.

"No."

"Well, I _happened_ to speak to the _concierge_ there and she remembers
perfectly a lady in an evening gown with a rain coat over it like the one
this woman escaped in. This lady sent a note by the _concierge_ up to the
apartment of that she-dragon, the sacristan's wife, where M. Kittredge was
calling on Alice."

"Ah! What time was that?"

"About a quarter to ten. The note was for M. Kittredge. It must have been a
_wild_ one, for he hurried down, white as a sheet, and drove off with the
lady. Fifteen minutes later they stopped at his hotel and he went up to his
room, two steps, at a time, while she waited in the cab. And Jean, the
_garcon_, had a good look at her and he told Rose, the chambermaid, and
_she_ had a look and recognized her as the woman whose photograph she had
often seen in the American's room."

"Ah, that's lucky!" rejoined the judge. "And you have this photograph?"

"No, but--