"Ah, do what you can, sir. I ask it as a favor. Pardon the request from a perfect stranger." I nodded acquiescence, and, waving a farewell to the poor girl, sank back into my seat. "This is a nice commission!" I thought. Mr. Watts was no longer in his corner. Also my jewel-case was gone. "A deliberate plant!" I exclaimed; and I could not help admiring the cleverness with which it had been carried out. I rushed into the corridor, and looked through every compartment; but Mr. Watts, whom I was to keep from drunkenness, had utterly departed. Then I made for the handle of the communication cord. It had been neatly cut off. The train was now travelling at a good speed, and the first stop would be Amiens. I was too ashamed of my simplicity to give the news of my loss to the other passengers in the carriage. "Very smart indeed!" I murmured, sitting down, and I smiled--for, after all, I could afford to smile. CHAPTER XI A CHAT WITH ROSA "And when I sat down it was gone, and the precious Mr. Watts had also vanished." "Oh!" exclaimed Rosa. That was all she said. It is impossible to deny that she was startled, that she was aghast. I, however, maintained a splendid equanimity. We were sitting in the salon of her flat at the Place de la Concorde end of the Rue de Rivoli. We had finished lunch, and she had offered me a cigarette. I had had a bath, and changed my attire, and eaten a meal cooked by a Frenchman, and I felt renewed. I had sunned myself in the society of Rosetta Rosa for an hour, and I felt soothed. I forgot all the discomforts and misgivings of the voyage. It was nothing to me, as I looked at this beautiful girl, that within the last twenty-four hours I had twice been in danger of losing my life. What to me was the mysterious man with the haunting face of implacable hate? What to me were the words of the woman who had stopped me on the pier at Dover? Nothing! A thousand times less than nothing! I loved, and I was in the sympathetic presence of her whom I loved. I had waited till lunch was over to tell Rosa of the sad climax of my adventures. "Yes," I repeated, "I was never more completely done in my life. The woman conspirator took me in absolutely." "What did you do then?" "Well, I wired to Calais immediately we got to Amiens, and told the police, and did all the things one usually does do when one has been robbed. Also, since arriving in Paris, I have been to the police here." "Do they hold out any hope of recovery?" "I'm afraid they are not sanguine. You see, the pair had a good start, and I expect they belong to one of the leading gangs of jewel thieves in Europe. The entire business must have been carefully planned. Probably I was shadowed from the moment I left your bankers'." "It's unfortunate." "Yes, indeed. I felt sure that you would attach some importance to the jewel-case. So I have instructed the police to do their utmost." She seemed taken aback by the lightness of my tone.