Then he said: “Just a last word, Rudolph: don’t go on bothering Lord Bakersfield. On the contrary, since you have no proofs against her and never will have, play the kind gentleman and give him his daughter’s diary, which I found in the red leather wallet and will leave you. That will convince him that she was the most honest and noble of women. You will do a kind action; and that is always something gained. As for William and his confederate, tell him that you made a mistake, that it was just ordinary blackmail and had nothing to do with the murders on the express, and you let them go. And finally, just on general principles, leave this business of the murders on the express alone. It’s much too complicated for you and you’ll only get more kicks than ha’pence out of it.” He went out of the room, locked the door of it, and went to the hotel office and paid his bill. Then he said: “Please keep my room for me till to-morrow. I’ll pay in advance in case I’m prevented from coming back.” He left the hotel, congratulating himself on the way the business had turned out. His part in it was at an end. Let the young woman get clear of it herself. She would doubtless find a way. It no longer mattered to him. His resolution was so definite that when he caught sight of her at the station, as he was taking the 3:50 express to Paris, he made no effort to join her but kept out of sight. At Marseilles she changed her route and took the train to Toulouse, in company with some people, whose acquaintance she seemed to have made and who seemed to be actors. William, suddenly turning up, joined the group. “A pleasant journey,” said Ralph to himself. “I’m delighted to have severed my relations with this charming couple. They may go and get hanged in somebody else’s society!” However, at the last minute, he jumped out of the train and took the same train as the girl. Like her, he left it the following morning at Toulouse. Following the murders on the express, the burglary at the Villa Faradoni and the attempted blackmail at the Bellevue Palace Hotel, two episodes, sudden, violent, furious and unexpected, like scenes in a badly constructed play which give the audience no time to understand what is happening and to connect the incidents with one another; a third episode was about to take place which Arsène Lupin was wont to describe later, as the last scene of his triptych as rescuer, an episode of the same rough and brutal character as the others. This episode also came to its crisis in a few hours and can only be presented after the manner of a scene devoid of psychology and apparently of any logic. At Toulouse Ralph made discreet enquiries of the porter at the hotel to which the girl with the green eyes accompanied her companions. He learned that these travelers were part of the touring company of Leonide Balli, a singer in light opera, who that very evening was playing the part of Veronique at the Municipal Theater.