raud them; that he would explain all, make anything
right if only they would give him time.

But they had not given him time. They had punished him for robbing them
of the diamonds by robbing him of his life. They had made him pay with
the extreme penalty for his treachery; and yet in the flickering
candle-light the stricken face, blood-spattered though it was, seemed to
leer slyly, as if in the knowledge that they had been cheated in the
end.

The confusion of the room promised badly for my hopes, nevertheless
there was a chance that the murderers, intent only on finding the
diamonds or some letters relating to their disposal, might, if they
found the treaty, have hastily flung it aside, as a thing of no value.

Though the corridors of the house were lit by gas, this room had none,
and the lamp being broken, I had to depend upon the bit of candle which
might fail while I still had need of it. I separated it carefully from
its bed of grease on the mantel, and as I did so the wavering light
touched my hand and shirt cuff. Both were stained red, and I turned
slightly sick at the sight. There was blood on my brown boots, too, and
the grey tweed clothes which I had not had time to change since arriving
in Paris.

I told myself that I must do my best to wash away these tell-tale stains
before leaving the room; but first I would look for the treaty.

I began my search by stirring up the mass of scattered papers on the
floor, and in spite of the horror which gripped me by the throat, I
cried "hurrah!" when, half hidden by the twisted rug, I saw the missing
letter-case. It was lying spread open, back uppermost, and there came an
instant of despair when I pounced on it only to find it empty. But there
was the treaty on the floor underneath; and lucky it was that the
searchers had thrown it out, for there were gouts of blood on the
letter-case, while the treaty was clean and unspotted.

With a sense of unutterable relief which almost made up for everything
endured and still to be endured, I slipped the document back into the
pocket from which it had been stolen.

At that moment a board creaked in the corridor, and then came a step
outside the door.

My blood rushed up to my head. But it was not of myself I thought; it
was of the treaty. If I were to be caught here, alone with the dead man,
my hands and clothing stained with his blood, I should be arrested. The
treaty must not be found on me. Yet I must hide it, save it.