“Something fresh must have happened,” Ralph thought. “Sometime between noon and three o’clock there has been some serious incident, which drove her suddenly to the post office, the consequences of which sometimes spoil her artistic efforts. She is thinking about it; it makes her anxious. And if I were to make a guess, I should say that this incident is connected with William, with William who has suddenly disappeared.” When the girl appeared at the fall of the curtain she received an ovation; and a curious crowd thronged the approach to the stage door. Before the door itself was standing a closed landau, drawn by a pair of horses. Since the only train by which it was possible to arrive at Pierrefitte-Nestales, the station nearest to Luz, in the morning, left Toulouse at 12:50, there was no doubt that the girl was going straight to the station, having already sent her luggage there. Ralph had already left his suit case in the cloak-room. At a quarter past twelve she entered the carriage which drove slowly off. William had not appeared; and it looked as if she was taking this journey without his knowing anything about it. Little more than twenty seconds later Ralph, who was going to the station on foot, was struck by a sudden idea, started to run, caught the landau halfway down the old boulevard and clung on to the back of it as best he could. Presently what he had foreseen happened. At the turning of the road to the station, the driver turned suddenly to the right, lashed the horses savagely with his whip, and drove the carriage along dark and deserted side-streets which brought it out at the Jardin des Plantes. At the pace at which it was going it was impossible for the girl to get out of the carriage. The horses had not far to gallop. They galloped into the deserted square and came to a sudden stop at the corner of it. The driver jumped down from his seat, opened the door of the carriage and stepped into it. Ralph heard the girl scream, but did not hurry himself. Certain that her assailant was no other than William he wished to learn what it was all about and get the meaning of events in the middle of their quarreling. But, almost on the instant, the attack seemed to him to assume such a dangerous complexion that he interfered at once. “Speak, will you!” the girl’s confederate cried. “So you thought that you were going to decamp and leave me in the lurch? Well it’s true that I meant to let you down, but it’s just because you know it that I’m not going to leave you now. Come, speak—tell me—if you don’t——” Ralph was frightened. He remembered the groans of Miss Bakersfield. A sharp turn of the wrist and the victim died. He opened the door, caught the confederate by the leg, flung him to the ground, and dragged him roughly to one side. The ruffian tried to put up a fight. With a sharp twist Ralph broke his arm. “Six weeks’ rest,” he said. “And if you start annoying the lady again I’ll break your spine for you.”