ncing the man to the police; for to do so
now would be to enmesh in the toils of the law not only Albert Dupont,
would-be assassin, but Andre Duchemin, charged with stealing the
Montalais jewels.

Lanyard would have given something for a peep-hole in the partition, to
be able to study the countenance of Dupont unaware that he was under
scrutiny. But he had to content himself with keeping vigil at the
windows, making sure that Dupont did not drop off at some one of those
many way-stations which the train was so scrupulous never to slight.

Monsieur Dupont, however, did not budge a foot out of his compartment
before the end of the run; and then Lanyard, purposely delaying, saw
Dupont get down from the compartment astern and make for the
booking-office at Le Vigan without a glance to right or
left--evidencing not the remotest interest in his late company on the
train, but rather a complete indifference, an absolute assurance that
he had nothing now to fear, and with this a preoccupation of mind so
thoroughgoing that Lanyard was able to edge up behind him, when he
paused at the guichet, and eavesdrop on his consultation with the clerk
of the ticket bureau.

Dupont desired ardently to proceed to Lyons with the least avoidable
delay. Under such conditions, according to the Indicateur des Chemins
de Fer, his best available route was via Nimes, where the next express
from Le Vigan made close connection with a northbound train rapide, due
to arrive in Lyons late in the afternoon.

There was, however, this drawback; or so the clerk declared after a
dubious summing up of the disreputable Dupont ensemble: whereas one
might travel any class as far as Nimes, the rapide for Lyons carried
only passengers of the first class.

But, said Dupont, with other blasphemy, all the world knew that the
sacred rapides had no sacred accommodations for sacred passengers of
the second and third class. Was he not the peer of any sacred
first-class pig that ever travelled by train in France? If not, he
proved the contrary to his own satisfaction by paying for his ticket
from an imposing accumulation of French bank-notes.

Then, with half an hour to wait, he lumbered into the buvette and
gorged, while Lanyard--having secured his own transportation for Lyons
by the some route--skulked in the offing and kept a close eye on the
gourmand.

Having eaten ferociously, Dupont came out, slouched into a seat on a
bench and, his thick limbs a-sprawl, cons