And there for a while I came to a check But one step
more up the ladder of thought brought all in view. In a
flash I guessed how the jewels had come to be in the
sachet; and that it was not Mademoiselle but M. de
Cocheforet who had mislaid them. I thought this last
discovery so important that I began to pace the room
softly, unable, in my excitement, to remain still.
Doubtless he had dropped the jewels in the hurry of his
start from the inn that night! Doubtless, too, he had
carried them in that bizarre hiding-place for the sake
of safety, considering it unlikely that robbers, if he
fell into their hands, would take the sachet from him;
as still less likely that they would suspect it to
contain anything of value. Everywhere it would pass for
a love-gift, the work of his mistress.
Nor did my penetration stop there. I guessed that the
gems were family property, the last treasure of the
house; and that M. de Cocheforet, when I saw him at the
inn, was on his way to convey them out of the country;
either to secure them from seizure by the Government, or
to raise money by selling them--money to be spent in
some last desperate enterprise.
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