reached
us, monsieur. There were certain formalities, I suppose."

For once the detective cursed in his heart the red-tape,
roundabout ways of French officialism.

"Well, well! Tell me about her," he said, with a resignation he
did not feel. "Who saw her?"

"I, monsieur. I spoke to her myself. She was on the outside of the
station, alone, unprotected, in a state of agitation and alarm. I
went up and offered my services. Then she told me she had come
from Dijon, that friends who were to have met her had not
appeared. I suggested that I should put her into a cab and send
her to her destination. But she was afraid of losing her friends,
and preferred to wait."

"A fine story! Did she appear to know what had happened? Had she
heard of the murder?"

"Something, monsieur."

"Who could have told her? Did you?"

"No, not I. But she knew."

"Was not that in itself suspicious? The fact has not yet been made
public."

"It was in the air, monsieur. There was a general impression that
something had happened. That was to be seen on every face, in the
whispered talk, the movement to and fro of the police and the
guards."

"Did she speak of it, or refer to it?"

"Only to ask if the murderer was known; whether the passengers had
been detained; whether there was any inquiry in progress; and
then--"

"What then?"

"This gentleman," pointing to Block, "came out, accompanied by
another. They passed pretty close to us, and I noticed that the
lady slipped quickly on one side."

"She recognized her confederate, of course, but did not wish to be
seen just then. Did he, the person with Block here, see her?"

"Hardly, I think; it was all so quick, and they were gone, in a
minute, to the cab-stand."

"What did your woman do?"

"She seemed to have changed her mind all at once, and declared she
would not wait for her friends. Now she was in quite a hurry to
go."

"Of course! and left you like a fool planted there. I suppose she
took a cab and followed the others, Block here and his companion."

"I believe she did. I saw her cab close behind theirs."

"It is too late to lament this now," said the Chief, after a short
pause, looking at his colleagues. "At least it confirms our ideas,
and brings us to certain definite conclusions. We must lay hands
on these two. Their guilt is all but established. Their own acts
condemn them. They must be arrested without a moment's delay."

"If you can find them!" suggested the Judge, w