car."
"But how could that be? You would have seen that person, some of you,especially at such a critical time. The aisle would be full of people,both exits were thus practically overlooked."
"My idea is--it is only an idea, understand--that the person hadalready left the car--that is to say, the interior of the car."
"Escaped how? Where? What do you mean?"
"Escaped through the open window of the compartment where you found themurdered man."
"You noticed the open window, then?" quickly asked the detective. "Whenwas that?"
"Directly I entered the compartment at the first alarm. It occurred tome at once that some one might have gone through it."
"But no woman could have done it. To climb out of an express train goingat top speed would be an impossible feat for a woman," said thedetective, doggedly.
"Why, in God's name, do you still harp upon the woman? Why should it bea woman more than a man?"
"Because"--it was the Judge who spoke, but he paused a moment indeference to a gesture of protest from M. Flocon. The little detectivewas much concerned at the utter want of reticence displayed by hiscolleague.
"Because," went on the Judge with decision--"because this was found inthe compartment;" and he held out the piece of lace and the scrap ofbeading for the General's inspection, adding quickly, "You have seenthese, or one of them, or something like them before. I am sure of it; Icall upon you; I demand--no, I appeal to your sense of honour, SirCollingham. Tell me, please, exactly what you know."
CHAPTER X
The General sat for a time staring hard at the bit of torn lace and thebroken beads. Then he spoke out firmly:
"It is my duty to withhold nothing. It is not the lace. That I could notswear to; for me--and probably for most men--two pieces of lace are verymuch the same. But I think I have seen these beads, or something exactlylike them, before."
"Where? When?"
"They formed part of the trimming of a mantle worn by the Contessa diCastagneto."
"Ah!" it was the same interjection uttered simultaneously by the threeFrenchmen, but each had a very different note; in the Judge it was deepinterest, in the detective triumph, in the Commissary indignation, aswhen 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 totell us. We insist on being told." This fiercely, from the now jubilantM. Flocon.
"I repeat that I cannot say. To the best of my recollection, theCountess wore a long travelling cloak--an ulster, as we call them. Thejacket with those bead ornaments may have been underneath. But if I haveseen them,--as I believe I have,--it was not during this journey."
Here the Judge whispered to M. Flocon, "The searcher did not discoverany second mantle."
"How do we know the woman examined thoroughly?" he replied. "Here, atleast, is direct evidence as to the beads. At last the net is drawinground 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. Ishould like that explained, please."
"By me? How can I explain it? And the fact does not bear upon what wewere 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 thisparticular 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 byher."
"Once, I admit, but not necessarily on this journey. Suppose she hadgiven the mantle away--to her maid, for instance; I believe ladies oftenpass on their things to their maids."
"It is all pure presumption, a mere theory. This maid--she has not asyet been imported into the discussion."
"Then I would suggest that you do so without delay. She is to my minda--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 noddedto her when she came first into the car."
"And on the journey--you spoke to her frequently?"
"I? Oh, dear, no, not at all. I noticed her, certainly; I could not helpit, and perhaps I ought to tell her mistress. She seemed to make friendsa little too readily with people."
"As for instance--?"
"With the porter to begin with. I saw them together at Laroche, in thebuffet at the bar; and that Italian, the man who was in here before me;indeed, with the murdered man. She seemed to know them all."
"Do you imply that the maid might be of use in this inquiry?"
"Most assuredly I do. As I tell you, she was constantly in and out ofthe car, and more or less intimate with several of the passengers."
"Including her mistress, the Countess," put in M. Flocon.
The General laughed pleasantly.
"Most ladies are, I presume, on intimate terms with their maids. Theysay no man is a hero to his valet. It is the same, I suppose, with theother sex."
"So intimate," went on the little detective, with much maliciousemphasis, "that now the maid has disappeared lest she might be askedinconvenient questions about her mistress."
"Disappeared? You are sure?"
"She cannot be found, that is all we know."
"It is as I thought, then. She it was who left the car!" cried SirCharles, with so much vehemence that the officials were startled out oftheir dignified reserve, and shouted back almost in a breath: "Explainyourself. Quick, quick. What in God's name do you mean?"
"I had my suspicions from the first, and I will tell you why. At Larochethe car emptied, as you may have heard; every one except the Countess,at least, went over to the restaurant for early coffee; I with the rest.I was one of the first to finish, and I strolled back to the platform toget a few whiffs of a cigarette. At that moment I saw, or thought I saw,the end of a skirt disappearing into the sleeping-car. I concluded itwas this maid, Hortense, who was taking her mistress a cup of coffee.Then my brother came up, we exchanged a few words, and entered the cartogether."
"By the same door as that through which you had seen the skirt pass?"
"No, by the other. My brother went back to his berth, but I paused inthe corridor to finish my cigarette after the train had gone on. By thistime every one but myself had returned to his berth, and I was on thepoint of lying down again for half an hour, when I distinctly heard thehandle turned of the compartment I knew to be vacant all through therun."
"That was the one with berths 11 and 12?"
"Probably. It was next to the Countess. Not only was the handle turned,but the door partly opened--"
"It was not the porter?"
"Oh, no, he was in his seat,--you know it, at the end of the car,--soundasleep, snoring; I could hear him."
"Did any one come out of the vacant compartment?"
"No; but I was almost certain, I believe I could swear that I saw thesame skirt, just the hem of it, a black skirt, sway forward beyond thedoor, just for a second. Then all at once the door was closed againfast."
"What did you conclude from this? Or did you think nothing of it?"
"I thought very little. I supposed it was that the maid wished to benear her mistress as we were approaching Paris, and I had heard fromthe Countess that the porter had made many difficulties. But you see,after what has happened, that there was a reason for stopping thetrain."
"Quite so," M. Flocon readily admitted, with a scarcely concealed sneer.
He had quite made up his mind now that it was the Countess who had rungthe alarm-bell, in order to allow of the escape of the maid, herconfederate and accomplice.
"And you still have an impression that some one--presumably thiswoman--got off the car, somehow, during the stoppag
e?" he asked.
"I suggest it, certainly. Whether it was or could be so, I must leave toyour superior judgment."
"What! A woman climb out like that? Bah! Tell that to some one else!"
"You have, of course, examined the exterior of the car, dear colleague?"now said the Judge.
"Assuredly, once, but I will do it again. Still, the outside is quitesmooth, there is no foot-board. Only an acrobat could succeed in thusescaping, and then only at the peril of his life. But a woman--oh, no!it is too absurd."
"With help she might, I think, get up on to the roof," quickly remarkedSir Charles. "I