l he came, and, from time to time, drinking little cups of
brandy, and offering them to the guests, who were all assembled there,
pretty much as the servants were doing in the court-yard.

At last the surgeon came. All fell back, and hung on the words that
were to fall from his lips.

'See!' said the landlord. 'This lady came last night by the diligence
with her maid. Doubtless, a great lady, for she must have a private
sitting-room--'

'She was Madame the Baroness de Roeder,' said the French maid.

--'And was difficult to please in the matter of supper, and a
sleeping-room. She went to bed well, though fatigued. Her maid left
her--'

'I begged to be allowed to sleep in her room, as we were in a strange
inn, of the character of which we knew nothing; but she would not let
me, my mistress was such a great lady.'

--'And slept with my servants,' continued the landlord. 'This morning
we thought madame was still slumbering; but when eight, nine, ten, and
near eleven o'clock came, I bade her maid use my pass-key, and enter
her room----'

'The door was not locked, only closed. And here she was found--dead is
she not, monsieur?--with her face down on her pillow, and her beautiful
hair all scattered wild; she never would let me tie it up, saying it
made her head ache. Such hair!' said the waiting-maid, lifting up a
long golden tress, and letting it fall again.

I remembered Amante's words the night before, and crept close up to
her.

Meanwhile, the doctor was examining the body underneath the
bed-clothes, which the landlord, until now, had not allowed to be
disarranged. The surgeon drew out his hand, all bathed and stained with
blood; and holding up a short, sharp knife, with a piece of paper
fastened round it.

'Here has been foul play,' he said. 'The deceased lady has been
murdered. This dagger was aimed straight at her heart.' Then putting on
his spectacles, he read the writing on the bloody paper, dimmed and
horribly obscured as it was:

NUMERO UN.
Ainsi les Chauffeurs se vengent.

'Let us go!' said I to Amante. 'Oh, let us leave this horrible place!'

'Wait a little,' said she. 'Only a few minutes more. It will be
better.'

Immediately the voices of all proclaimed their suspicions of the
cavalier who had arrived last the night before. He had, they said, made
so many inquiries about the young lady, whose supercilious conduct all
in the _salle-a-manger_ had been discussing on his entrance