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quite naturally: 'How do I know? How do you expect me to remember what I said that evening any more than any other evening? My words were of no importance except to the two who thought I was going to murder them. What stupidity! Perhaps they had something to do with the next day's work. I couldn't say '

"But the judge insisted: 'How was it that you and your wife weren't astonished when only two people came down the next morning? Why were you silent about that? We would never have known a thing about all this if Monsieur and Madame Chaulieu had not come themselves to tell us that they fled in the night!'

Why should I be astonished?' Scheffer answered. 'You know the little show we gave and still continue to give for amateurs. It had frightened the little lady, and she can tell you herself that several times during the evening she said: "The whole place frightens me!" No, I was not surprized, and I must admit that we had a good laugh over it when the two Italians told us the next morning, before leaving, that Monsieur and Madame had been frightened to death and had escaped by the attic window Besides, we found the rope there As for the Italians, after the abrupt departure of Monsieur and Madame, they had carried their bedding into the other room and had passed an excellent night there.'

Still, if the incident was as funny as that, you had no reason to keep still about it!'

But who told you I did? On the contrary, I've told it scores of times to travelers stopping for a drink But to find them now'

You might have said something to the stage-driver.'

Oh, when he stops at the inn he has other things to do: he is busy with his horses. Besides, he may have heard my tale, at that.'

No, he has never heard it He never suspected a thing.'

That is quite possible. What should he suspect That story is a trivial matter. You surprize me with all this fuss.'

The Italians didn't tell you that they frightened Monsieur and Madame in order to obtain possession of the room?'

Good heavens, no.'

"The answer was a serious one, because after all, if the whole thing had only been a joke it was strange that the Italians had not boasted of it before their departure.

I am the only victim in the whole affair,' Scheffer went on, 'because I have not been paid for the bill yet. And that is probably why the Italians did not confess that they were responsible for the flight of the other two: they did not want to be asked to pay for the bill.'

"As you see, he had an answer ready for everything.

"Nevertheless, the judge was perplexed and the inquest continued for some time. They made new searches, but they found nothing and the matter was finally dropped. It was not until three years later, a year after Maria-Luce's death, that the affair came to light again, and this time the papers were full of wild tales.

"Antonio Perretti and Olivia Orsino had never been heard of again, and you must admit that it was strange. I know that Antonio Perretti was married and that he may have gone to some far corner of the earth to enjoy his happiness under an assumed name, but, after all, he was just becoming famous, and to give up such a splendid career forever I grew more and more convinced that they had been murdered, and even to-