e beads, or something exactly
like them, before."

"Where? When?"

"They formed part of the trimming of a mantle worn by the Contessa di
Castagneto."

"Ah!" it was the same interjection uttered simultaneously by the three
Frenchmen, but each had a very different note; in the Judge it was deep
interest, in the detective triumph, in the Commissary indignation, as
when he caught a criminal red-handed.

"Did she wear it on the journey?" continued the Judge.

"As to that I cannot say."

"Come, come, General, you were with her constantly; you must be able to
tell us. We insist on being told." This fiercely, from the now jubilant
M. Flocon.

"I repeat that I cannot say. To the best of my recollection, the
Countess wore a long travelling cloak--an ulster, as we call them. The
jacket with those bead ornaments may have been underneath. But if I have
seen them,--as I believe I have,--it was not during this journey."

Here the Judge whispered to M. Flocon, "The searcher did not discover
any second mantle."

"How do we know the woman examined thoroughly?" he replied. "Here, at
least, is direct evidence as to the beads. At last the net is drawing
round this fine Countess."

"Well, at any rate," said the detective aloud, returning to the General,
"these beads were found in the compartment of the murdered man. I
should like that explained, please."

"By me? How can I explain it? And the fact does not bear upon what we
were considering, as to whether any one had left the car."

"Why not?"

"The Countess, as we know, never left the car. As to her entering this
particular compartment,--at any previous time,--it is highly improbable.
Indeed, it is rather insulting her to suggest it."

"She and this Quadling were close friends."

"So you say. On what evidence I do not know, but I dispute it."

"Then how could the beads get there? They were her property, worn by
her."

"Once, I admit, but not necessarily on this journey. Suppose she had
given the mantle away--to her maid, for instance; I believe ladies often
pass on their things to their maids."

"It is all pure presumption, a mere theory. This maid--she has not as
yet been imported into the discussion."

"Then I would suggest that you do so without delay. She is to my mind
a--well, rather a curious person."

"You know her--spoke to her?"

"I know her, in a way. I had seen her in the Via Margutta, and I nodded
to her when she came first into the car."

"And on