“It was really a woman, then?” “Yes.” “And you weren’t able to keep her?” “Yes. Only—” said the Commissary, and paused. “Only what?” “Well, she left some rolled-up sacks in her place.” In abandoning the pursuit of the fugitives Ralph had followed, among other motives, the wish for immediate revenge. Baffled, he wished to baffle in his turn and to score off some one else as he had been scored off. Marescal was to hand, the appointed victim; Marescal from whom he hoped to tear other confidences, Marescal whose distress was almost on the instant giving him a keen pleasure. “It’s a catastrophe!” he cried in the most sympathetic accents. “You may well say so,” the Commissary groaned. “And you have no clew?” asked Ralph eagerly. “Not the slightest.” “No fresh trace of her accomplice?” “What accomplice?” “The accomplice who was sharing her flight,” said Ralph impatiently. “But he played no part in her escape. We know his footprints, scattered about all over the place, along the line and especially in the wood. But, just outside the entrance to the railway station, in a patch of mud, side by side with the print of the shoe without a heel, we found quite different footprints—a smaller foot—with a more pointed toe.” Ralph pushed his muddy boots as far as possible under the seat. With an air of the liveliest interest he asked: “Then was there some one waiting outside the station?” “Undoubtedly. And it’s my opinion that that person must have got away with the murderer by making use of the doctor’s carriage,” the Commissary explained. “The doctor’s carriage?” “Well, if he didn’t we should have seen the doctor; and since we haven’t seen the doctor, it must be that he was pulled out of his carriage and thrown into some hole.” “But you can always overtake a carriage,” said Ralph. “How?” “The horses of the police,” said Ralph. “I ran straight to the shed in which they were standing and mounted one of them. But the saddle turned right round and I came a cropper,” said the Commissary glumly. “What do you mean?” “The man who was looking after the horses had fallen asleep and this brute had taken advantage of it to cut the girths and bridle straps. Under those circumstances it was impossible to go after the carriage,” said the Commissary. He spoke in such a tone, with such an air of misery that Ralph could not help laughing gently; then he said: “By Jove! This is a foeman worthy of your steel.” “A master,” said the Commissary. “I once had occasion to follow in detail an affair in which Arsène Lupin was pitted against Ganimard. To-night’s coup was brought off with the same mastery.” Ralph had no pity for him; he said; “It really is a catastrophe, for I take it that you looked to find this arrest of great advantage to your future career?”