nd thinking it curious that documents should weigh so heavy.
There must be a great many of them, I reflected, but even so....

I bent down and pulled the suit-case right out and lifted it.

Indeed it was heavy--very heavy!

Then I began to think of something else.

I had the cabin to myself, which was pleasant, and I spent most of the
day stretched out in my bunk. Oh, how I longed every hour for the
terribly boring voyage to come to an end!

It was a lovely morning when at last we steamed into the estuary of
the Seine, and I shall never forget how beautiful the river and its
banks looked as I peered out through my port-hole and we crept up
towards Rouen. My meals had all been served in my cabin during the
voyage, as I could not well have taken the suit-case with me into the
saloon.

Now I felt like a prisoner about to be released.

Mr. Rayne had told me to stop at the post-office in Rouen on my way
from the boat to Paris, as I might, he said, find a letter or a
telegram awaiting me. I had managed to pass the suit-case through the
Customs, and now my heart beat faster as a letter was handed to me,
for I recognized Lola's handwriting; I had seen it only once
before--that was on a letter she had asked me to post for her.

I hurriedly tore open the envelope, and this was what I read:

"Private. I have suspicion that the suit-case you have you should get
rid of at once. Destroy this!"

Undated and unsigned, the letter bore no address. At once thoughts and
conjectures of all sorts came crowding into my mind. Could it be that
the suit-case contained stolen jewelry and not documents?

Instantly I guessed why Rayne had sent me to Paris with it by that
roundabout route. He must either himself be the thief, I concluded, or
an accomplice in the theft, and by placing the stolen property in my
charge and smuggling it out of England by a circuitous route....

One reflection led quickly to another. Paul, the valet, no doubt knew
about his master's private life--possibly was in his confidence. And
if Rayne had committed the robbery he must be a professional crook. In
which case, should the whereabouts of the stolen property be
discovered, I should be arrested as an accessory to the crime! Clearly
I had no time to lose if I wanted to safeguard myself. Even now the
police, with their wonderful acumen, might be on my track!

I reached Paris at last, and as my taxi swung round from the Place
Jeanne d'Arc into the Rue de Rivol