hen.
No, the Italian was her chief companion."

"Did any one else notice the flirtation, do you think?"

"Possibly. There was no secrecy. It was very marked. We could all
see."

"And her mistress too?"

"That I will not say. The lady I saw but little during the
journey."

A few more questions, mainly personal, as to his address,
business, probable presence in Paris for the next few weeks, and
M. Lafolay was permitted to depart.

The examination of the younger Frenchman, a smart, alert young
man, of pleasant, insinuating address, with a quick, inquisitive
eye, followed the same lines, and was distinctly corroborative on
all the points to which M. Lafolay spoke. But M. Jules Devaux had
something startling to impart concerning the Countess.

When asked if he had seen her or spoken to her, he shook his head.

"No; she kept very much to herself," he said. "I saw her but
little, hardly at all, except at Modane. She kept her own berth."

"Where she received her own friends?"

"Oh, beyond doubt. The Englishmen both visited her there, but not
the Italian."

"The Italian? Are we to infer that she knew the Italian?"

"That is what I wish to convey. Not on the journey, though.
Between Rome and Paris she did not seem to know him. It was
afterwards; this morning, in fact, that I came to the conclusion
that there was some secret understanding between them."

"Why do you say that, M. Devaux?" cried the detective, excitedly.
"Let me urge you and implore you to speak out, and fully. This is
of the utmost, of the very first, importance."

"Well, gentlemen, I will tell you. As you are well aware, on
arrival at this station we were all ordered to leave the car, and
marched to the waiting-room, out there. As a matter of course, the
lady entered first, and she was seated when I went in. There was a
strong light on her face."

"Was her veil down?"

"Not then. I saw her lower it later, and, as I think, for reasons
I will presently put before you. Madame has a beautiful face, and
I gazed at it with sympathy, grieving for her, in fact, in such a
trying situation; when suddenly I saw a great and remarkable
change come over it."

"Of what character?"

"It was a look of horror, disgust, surprise,--a little perhaps of
all three; I could not quite say which, it faded so quickly and
was followed by a cold, deathlike pallor. Then almost immediately
she lowered her veil."

"Could you form any explanation for what you saw in he