tered bravely upon the hardest half hour of her life.
After all, he was a man and she would do the best she could!

"You see, M. Coquelin--I beg your pardon, M. Coquenil. The names are alike,
aren't they?"

"Yes," said the other dryly.

"Well," she went on quite charmingly, "I have done some foolish things in
my life, but this is the most foolish. I _did_ give Martinez the
five-pound notes. You see, he was to play a match this week with a Russian
and he offered to lay the money for me. He said he could get good odds and
he was sure to win."

"But the dinner? The private room?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I went there for a perfectly proper reason. I
needed some one to help me and I--I couldn't ask a man who knew me so----"

"Then Martinez didn't know you?"

"Of course not. He was foolish enough to think himself in love with me
and--well, I found it convenient and--amusing to--utilize him."

"For what?"

Mrs. Wilmott bit her red lips and then with some dignity replied that she
did not see what bearing her purpose had on the case since it had not been
accomplished.

"Why wasn't it accomplished?" he asked.

"Because the man was shot."

"Who shot him?"

"I don't know."

"You have no idea?"

"No idea."

"But you were present in the room?"

"Ye-es."

"You heard the shot? You saw Martinez fall?"

"Yes, but----"

"Well?"

Now her agitation, increased, she seemed about to make some statement, but
checked herself and simply insisted that she knew nothing about the
shooting. No one had entered the room except herself and Martinez and the
waiter who served them. They had finished the soup; Martinez had left his
seat for a moment; he was standing near her when--when the shot was fired
and he fell to the floor. She had no idea where the shot came from or who
fired it. She was frightened and hurried away from the hotel. That was all.

Coquenil smiled indulgently. "What did you do with the auger?" he asked.

"The auger?" she gasped.

"Yes, it was seen by the cab driver you took when you slipped out of the
hotel in the telephone girl's rain coat."

"You know that?"

He nodded and went on: "This cab driver remembers that you had something
under your arm wrapped in a newspaper. Was that the auger?"

"Yes," she answered weakly.

"And you threw it into the Seine as you crossed the Concorde bridge?"

She stared at him in genuine admiration: "My God, you're the cleverest man
I ever met!"

M. Paul bo