He had just taken his place at his table and begun to arrange his papers, which, being a man of method, he kept carefully sorted by lots each in an old copy of the Figaro, when he was called to the telephone. His services were greatly needed, as we know, at the Lyons station and the summons was to the following effect: "Crime on train No. 45. A man murdered in the sleeper. All the passengers held. Please come at once. Most important."
A fiacre was called instantly, and M. Flocon, accompanied by Galipaud and Block, the two first inspectors for duty, was driven with all possible speed across Paris.
He was met outside the station, just under the wide veranda, by the officials, who gave him a brief outline of the facts, so far as they were known, and as they have already been put before the reader.
"The passengers have been detained?" asked M. Flocon at once.
"Those in the sleeping-car only-"
"Tut, tut! they should have been all kept-at least until you had taken their names and addresses. Who knows what they might not have been able to tell?"
It was suggested that as the crime was committed presumably while the train was in motion, only those in the one car could be implicated.
"We should never jump to conclusions," said the Chief snappishly. "Well, show me the train card-the list of the travellers in the sleeper."
"It cannot be found, sir."
"Impossible! Why, it is the porter's business to deliver it at the end of the journey to his superiors, and under the law-to us. Where is the porter? In custody?"
"Surely, sir, but there is something wrong with him."
"So I should think! Nothing of this kind could well occur without his knowledge. If he was doing his duty-unless, of course, he-but let us avoid hasty conjectures."
"He has also lost the passengers' tickets, which you know he retains till the end of the journey. After the catastrophe, however, he was unable to lay his hand upon his pocket-book. It contained all his papers."
"Worse and worse. There is something behind all this. Take me to him. Stay, can I have a private room close to the other-where the prisoners, those held on suspicion, are? It will be necessary to hold investigations, take their depositions. M. le Juge will be here directly."
M. Flocon was soon installed in a room actually communicating with the waiting-room, and as a preliminary of the first importance, taking precedence even of the examination of the sleeping-car, he ordered the porter to be brought in to answer certain questions.
The man, Ludwig Groote, as he presently gave his name, thirty-two years of age, born at Amsterdam, looked such a sluggish, slouching, blear-eyed creature that M. Flocon began by a sharp rebuke.
"Now. Sharp! Are you always like this?" cried the Chief.
The porter still stared straight before him with lack-lustre eyes, and made no immediate reply.
"Are you drunk? are you- Can it be possible?" he said, and in vague reply to a sudden strong suspicion, he went on: "What were you doing between Laroche and Paris? Sleeping?"
The man roused himself a little. "I think I slept. I must have slept. I was very drowsy. I had been up two nights; but so it is always, and I am not like this generally. I do not understand."
"Hah!" The Chief thought he understood. "Did you feel this drowsiness before leaving Laroche?"
"No, monsieur, I did not. Certainly not. I was fresh till then-quite fresh."
"Hum; exactly; I see;" and the little Chief jumped to his feet and ran round to where the porter stood sheepishly, and sniffed and smelt at him.
"Yes, yes." Sniff, sniff, sniff, the little man danced round and round him, then took hold of the porter's head with one hand, and with the other turned down his lower eyelid so as to expose the eyeball, sniffed a little more, and then resumed his seat.
"Exactly. And now, where is your train card?"
"Pardon, monsieur, I cannot find it."
"That is absurd. Where do you keep it? Look again-search-I must have it."
The porter shook his head hopelessly. "It is gone, monsieur, and my pocket-book."
"But your papers, the tickets-"
"Everything was in it, monsieur. I must have dropped it."
Strange, very strange. However-the fact was to be recorded, for the moment. He could of course return to it.
"You can give me the names of the passengers?"
"No, monsieur. Not exactly. I cannot remember, not enough to distinguish between them."
"Fichtre! But this is most devilishly irritating. To think that I have to do with a man so stupid-such an idiot, such an ass!"
"At least you know how the berths were occupied, how many in each, and which persons? Yes? You can tell me that? Well, go on. By and by we will have the passengers in, and you can fix their places, after I have ascertained their names. Now, please! For how many was the car?"
"Sixteen. There were two compartments of four berths each, and four of two berths each."
"Stay, let us make a plan. I will draw it. Here, now, is that right?" and the Chief held up the rough diagram, here shown-
[Illustration: Diagram of railroad car.]
"Here we have the six compartments. Now take a, with berths 1, 2, 3, and 4. Were they all occupied?"
"No; only two, by Englishmen. I know that they talked English, which I understand a little. One was a soldier; the other, I think, a clergyman, or priest."
"Good! we can verify that directly. Now, b, with berths 5 and 6. Who was there?"
"Stay, let us make a plan. I will draw it. Here, now, is that right?" and the Chief held up the rough diagram, here shown-
[Illustration: Diagram of railroad car.]
"Here we have the six compartments. Now take a, with berths 1, 2, 3, and 4. Were they all occupied?"
"No; only two, by Englishmen. I know that they talked English, which I understand a little. One was a soldier; the other, I think, a clergyman, or priest."
"Good! we can verify that directly. Now, b, with berths 5 and 6. Who was there?"
"One gentleman. I don't remember his name. But I shall know him by appearance."
"Go on. In c, two berths, 7 and 8?"
"Also one gentleman. It was he who-I mean, that is where the crime occurred."
"Ah, indeed, in 7 and 8? Very well. And the next, 9 and 10?"
"A lady. Our only lady. She came from Rome."
"One moment. Where did the rest come from? Did any embark on the road?"
"No, monsieur; all the passengers travelled through from Rome."
"The dead man included? Was he Roman?"
"That I cannot say, but he came on board at Rome."
"Very well. This lady-she was alone?"
"In the compartment, yes. But not altogether."
"I do not understand!"
"She had her servant with her."
"In the car?"
"No, not in the car. As a passenger by second class. But she came to her mistress sometimes, in the car."
"For her service, I presume?"
"Well, yes, monsieur, when I would permit it. But she came a little too often, and I was compelled to protest, to speak to Madame la Comtesse-"
"She was a countess, then?"
"The maid addressed her by that title. That is all I know. I heard her."
"When did you see the lady's maid last?"
"Last night. I think at Amberieux, about 8 P.M."
"Not this morning?"
"No, sir, I am quite sure of that."
"Not at Laroche? She did not come on board to stay, for the last stage, when her mistress would be getting up, dressing, and likely to require her?"
"No; I should not have permitted it."
"And where is the maid now, d'you suppose?"
The porter looked at him with an air of complete imbecility. "She is surely somewhere near, in or about the station. She would hardly desert her mistress now," he said, stupidly, at last.
"At any rate we can soon settle that." The Chief turned to one of his assistants, both of whom had been standing behind him all the time, and said: "Step out, Galipaud, and see. No, wait. I am nearly as stupid as this simpleton. Describe this maid."
"Tall and slight, dark-eyed, very black hair. Dressed all in black, plain black bonnet. I cannot remember more."
"Find her, Galipaud-keep your eye on her. We may want her-why, I cannot say, as she seems disconnected with the event, but still she ought to be at hand." Then, turning to the porter, he went on. "Finish, please. You said 9 and 10 was the lady's. Well, 11 and 12?"
"It was vacant all through the run."
"And the last compartment, for four?"
"There were two berths, occupied both by Frenchmen, at least so I judged them. They talked French to each other and to me."
"Then now we have them all. Stand aside, please, and I will make the passengers come in. We will then determine their places and affix their names from their own admissions. Call them in, Block, one by one."
CHAPTER III
The questions put by M. Flocon were much the same in every case, and were limited in this early stage of the inquiry to the one point of identity.
The first who entered was a Frenchman. He was a jovial, fat-faced, portly man, who answered to the name of Anatole Lafolay, and who described himself as a traveller in precious stones. The berth he had occupied was No. 13 in compartment f. His companion in the berth was a younger man, smaller, slighter, but of much the same stamp. His name was Jules Devaux, and he was a commission agent. His berth had been No. 15 in the same compartment, f. Both these Frenchmen gave their addresses with the names of many people to whom they were well known, and established at once a reputation for respectability which was greatly in their favour.
The third to appear was the tall, grey-headed Englishman, who had taken a certain lead at the first discovery of the crime. He called himself General Sir Charles Collingham, an officer of her Majesty's army; and the clergyman who shared the compartment was his brother, the Reverend Silas Collingham, rector of Theakstone-Lammas, in the county of Norfolk.
Their berths were numbered 1 and 4 in a.
Before the English General was dismissed, he asked whether he was likely to be detained.
"For the present, yes," replied M. Flocon, briefly. He did not care to be asked questions. That, under the circumstances, was his business.
"Because I should like to communicate with the British Embassy."
"You are known there?" asked the detective, not choosing to believe the story at first. It might be a ruse of some sort.
"I know Lord Dufferin personally; I was with him in India. Also Colonel Papillon, the military attaché; we were in the same regiment. If I sent to the Embassy, the latter would, no doubt, come himself."