the drift.

"So," he said, "when this morning you suggested to Monsieur the
Commissaire that it would be advisable for you to go through Mlle.
Celie's wardrobe, you found that nothing more had been taken away
except the white lace coat?"

"That is so."

"Very well. Now, after Mlle. Celie had gone down the stairs--"

"I put the lights out in her room and, as she had ordered me to do, I
went to bed. The next thing that I remember--but no! It terrifies me
too much to think of it."

Helene shuddered and covered her face spasmodically with her hands.
Hanaud drew her hands gently down.

"Courage! You are safe now, mademoiselle. Calm yourself!"

She lay back with her eyes closed.

"Yes, yes; it is true. I am safe now. But oh! I feel I shall never dare
to sleep again!" And the tears swam in her eyes. "I woke up with a
feeling of being suffocated. Mon Dieu! There was the light burning in
the room, and a woman, the strange woman with the strong hands, was
holding me down by the shoulders, while a man with his cap drawn over
his eyes and a little black moustache pressed over my lips a pad from
which a horribly sweet and sickly taste filled my mouth. Oh, I was
terrified! I could not scream. I struggled. The woman told me roughly
to keep quiet. But I could not. I must struggle. And then with a
brutality unheard of she dragged me up on to my knees while the man
kept the pad right over my mouth. The man, with the arm which was free,
held me close to him, and she bound my hands with a cord behind me.
Look!"

She held out her wrists. They were terribly bruised. Red and angry
lines showed where the cord had cut deeply into her flesh.

"Then they flung me down again upon my back, and the next thing I
remember is the doctor standing over me and this kind nurse supporting
me."

She sank back exhausted in her chair and wiped her forehead with her
handkerchief. The sweat stood upon it in beads.

"Thank you, mademoiselle," said Hanaud gravely. "This has been a trying
ordeal for you. I understand that. But we are coming to the end. I want
you to read this description of Mlle. Celie through again to make sure
that nothing is omitted." He gave the paper into the maid's hands. "It
will be advertised, so it is important that it should be complete. See
that you have left out nothing."

Helene Vauquier bent her head over the paper.

"No," said Helene at last. "I do not think I have omitted anything."
And she handed the paper back.