stammered Lepine. "You are sure?"

"Perfectly sure, sir."

"Well, describe her, then."

The clerk half-closed his eyes in order the better to visualize his
memory.

"She was, as I have said, of about nineteen, and she was not a
Frenchwoman."

"How do you know that?"

"Because, in the first place, she spoke French not very well; and, in
the second place, there was in her manner an assurance, a freedom from
embarrassment, which a French girl of her station would not possess."

"Was she light or dark?"

"She was dark, sir, with bright black eyes, with which she looked at one
very steadily. She was slightly built, of medium height, simply dressed,
so far as I could see through the little window, not fashionably, but
with good effect. However, what impressed me most was her calm
assurance--almost American; but she was too dark to be of America."

Reading between the lines, Lepine suspected that the clerk had attempted
to start a flirtation with the self-possessed unknown, and had been
rebuffed. And yet, what he said was true--young girls in France were
not, ordinarily, entrusted with the buying of railway tickets,
especially for so considerable a journey.

"You are sure the tickets were to Paris?"

"Yes, sir; second-class. I remember distinctly giving her sixty-four
francs in change."

"At what hour was this?"

"About eight o'clock, sir."

"Of Monday morning?"

"Yes, sir; of Monday morning."

"At what hour was the next train for Paris?"

"At eight-fifteen, sir, the express departs."

"The girl had no companion?"

"I saw none, sir."

"She certainly had a companion, or she would not have bought two
tickets."

"Perhaps the inspector at the gate can tell us something," the chief
suggested, and the clerk was dismissed and the inspector summoned. But
he could give them no information. There had been many passengers for
the express, and, besides, every one, himself included, was so
distressed and overwrought by the catastrophe of the morning that there
had not been the usual attention to detail. The inquiry was extended to
the baggage-porters, but with no better success. They, too, had been
upset by the disaster and had thought of nothing else. Some of them had
frankly deserted their posts in order to hasten to the harbour-front.
None of those who remained had noticed a white-haired man and a
dark-haired girl.

"Come!" said Lepine savagely to himself, as he left the station. "This
is not getting ahea