And so, hour after hour, while all the passengers had retired to rest, we sat at the end of the car and chatted. I asked her if she liked a cigarette, and she gladly accepted. So we smoked together, while she told me something of herself. She was a native of Orleans, where her people had been wealthy landowners, she said, but some unfortunate speculation on her father's part brought ruin to them, and she was now governess in the family of a certain Baron de Moret, of the Château de Moret, near Paris. A governess! I had believed from her dress and manner that she was at least the daughter of some French aristocrat, and I confess I was disappointed to find that she was only a superior servant. "I have just come from Breslau," she explained. "On very urgent business--business that concerns my own self. If I am not in Paris this morning I shall, in all probability, pay the penalty with my life." "How? What do you mean?" In the grey dawn as the express roared on towards Paris I saw that her countenance was that of a woman who held a secret. At first I had been conscious that there was something unusual about her, and suspected her to be an adventuress, but now, on further acquaintance, I became convinced that she held possession of some knowledge that she was yearning to betray, yet feared to do so. One fact that struck me as curious was that, in the course of our conversation, she showed that she knew my destination was London. At first this puzzled me, but on reflection I saw that the conductor, knowing me, had told her. At Erquelinnes we had descended and had our early _café complet_, and now as we rushed onward to the capital she had suddenly made up her mind to go through to London. "When we arrive in Paris I must leave you to keep my appointments," she said. "We will meet again at the Gare du Nord--at the Calais train, eh?" "Most certainly," was the reply. "Ah!" she sighed, looking straight into my face with those dark eyes that were so luminous. "You do not know--you can never guess what a great service you have rendered me by allowing me to travel here with you. My peril is the gravest that--well, that ever threatened a woman--yet now, by your aid, I shall be able to save myself. Otherwise, to-morrow my body would have been exposed in the Morgue--the corpse of a woman unknown." "These words of yours interest me." "Ah, m'sieur! You do not know. And I cannot tell you. It is a secret--ah! if I only dare speak you would help me, I know," and I saw in her face a look full of apprehension and distress. As she raised her hand to push the dark hair from her brow, as though it oppressed her, my eyes caught sight of something glistening upon her wrist, half concealed by the lace on her sleeve. It was a magnificent diamond bangle. Surely such an ornament would not be worn by a mere governess! I looked again into her handsome face, and wondered if she were deceiving me.