He did not finish the sentence, but shrugged his shoulders significantly, and, handing me my valise, turned and left me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Two days later, I was sitting idly smoking at a little table outside the Couronne d'Or inn at Briancon, that curious little town inside the great fortress that commands the pass of Mont Genevre. The Alps were purple in the glorious sunset. The sun had long ago been hidden by the mountains behind, on whose tops the ice and snow glistened. Then, as the calm twilight came on, a pale, rosy light suffused the eastern sky, the moon rose, the aspens shook, the outlines of the valley shaded off into darkness and uncertainty, and the last glow sank into the deepening blue. Having telegraphed to my friends, arranging to meet them at Grenoble on the morrow, I sat silent, thoughtful, and expectant. Suddenly a musical voice behind exclaimed in English. "The signore wears the edelweiss, I observe." "Yes," I replied, turning and confronting a tall, handsome, middle-aged lady, attired in deep black. She was evidently of the upper class, and spoke English with an accent scarcely perceptible. A fact which struck me as very remarkable was that around her neck she wore a band of blood-red silk exactly the same as that upon the corpse in the brigand's cave! What could it denote? "I presume I am not mistaken in addressing you. I am Madame Trois Etoiles." "I have been expecting you," I said. "You have been commissioned to deliver something to me, have you not?" she asked, seating herself in the chair on the opposite side of the table. "Yes. I must confess, however, that my mission is a somewhat mysterious one." And I drew the packet from my pocket. "Mine is also mysterious," she laughed nervously. "But tell me, who gave it to you?" "Unfortunately, I must not tell, madame; I am sworn to secrecy," I replied. Then I asked, "Why is it imperative that the packet should be conveyed to you in this manner?" "Ah, signore, I am as ignorant as yourself. Besides, I also have taken an oath. It was a stipulation that I should explain nothing. I was to meet you here and receive the packet--to act as messenger, in fact. That is all." "Then we cannot exchange confidences," I said disappointedly. She shook her head. "Very well; there is the mysterious packet;" and I handed it to her. Then I tore a leaf from my pocket-book, and, together with a pencil, handed it to my strange visitor, who wrote in Italian the words, "Received of Signore the Englishman, the packet with seals intact.-- Madame * * *" Passing the paper back to me, she drew on the glove she had removed, and, rising, wished me a haughty adieu, remarking that she was obliged to leave for Modane by the diligence which would start almost immediately from the Hotel de Ville.