"I tell you, officer," exclaimed the governess, stamping her foot, and speaking angrily, "I am not mad or drunk; and, no matter what time it is--night or morning--I am telling you the truth! I know the man that has done this; his name is Markworth, and an Englishman; and I saw him shove the girl over the precipice, for I was close behind him at the time! I tried to stop him. He struck me; here is the cut on my forehead; you can see for yourself that I don't lie. The blow made me faint, and I must have been insensible much longer than I supposed, but it is not too late! We may catch the villain yet. It is your duty to aid me! But let us first search for the girl; her body must be here!" Although strongly inclined to believe that the lady who addressed him was under the influence of absinthe or eau de vie, and that she had lost her way amongst the heights, and tumbling down had hurt herself, thus accounting for her blood-stained face and wild appearance, the _sergent de ville_ was somewhat thrown off his first-formed opinion by her enthusiasm and the coherency of her story. He accordingly adjusted his lantern, and they looked about together in silence for some time. However, when no body of any murdered person was to be found, no traces of a sanguinary struggle to be seen, and everything looked as usual about the place, the _sergent de ville_ returned to his original opinion. "I said Madame was not well!" he observed, in an aggrieved tone. "She had better go home to bed, and not be talking of any fabulous murders! Where does Madame reside?" "I tell you I saw the thing with my own eyes! He must have carried the body away and hidden it!" "Hush! _ma petite_," said the man, soothingly. "Go home: it will be all right to-morrow!" "I won't go home. I am quite in my senses, and it will be your fault if that man escapes. You ought to do your duty and arrest him. I shall complain to the Maire! Where does he live? I must see him! Take me there at once." "_C'est impossible_!" replied the officer, coldly; "but Madame will find that I will do my duty," he added, meaningly. "I must see the Maire! The murderer will escape!" went on the governess, hysterically. The _sergent de ville_ placed her arm firmly within his own. "Madame will come with me," he said, and he led her away. He was not going to wake up the Maire or Juge de Paix at that late hour of the night, or rather early hour of the morning, with such a cock and a bull story from a drunken woman. Why, he might lose his promotion should he disturb the slumbers of his superiors! Finding, therefore, that his entreaties for her to go home were treated only as deaf words, and that she would neither go herself nor tell where she lived, the astute officer conducted her carefully to the guard-house, under the plea of showing her where the Maire lived in order to get her along quietly, and had her comfortably locked up.