“The servants?”

He nodded:  “Or anybody.”

“Then you have guessed—?”

“Broadly speaking, everything, I fancy.  Not in any detail, naturally.  But one puts two and two together ...  I may as well tell you to begin with:  I was wakeful last night, and finding no cigarettes in my room, came down here to get some.  I left my candle on the table—­there.  As soon as my back was turned, somebody took it away and put it out.  A few minutes later, while I was trying to steal out of the room, I ran into a fist...”

“Yes,” she said thoughtfully; and with some hesitation added:  “I, too, found it not easy to sleep.  But I heard nothing till that chair crashed.  Then I got up to investigate ... and found you lying there, senseless.  In falling your head must have struck the leg of the table.”

“You came down here—­alone?”

“I listened first, heard no sound, saw no light; but I had to know what the noise meant...”

“Still, you came downstairs alone!”

“But naturally, monsieur.”

“I don’t believe,” said Duchemin sincerely, “the world holds a woman your peer for courage.”

“Or curiosity?” she laughed.  “At all events, I found you, but could do nothing to rouse you.  So I called Jean, and he helped me get you upstairs again.”

“Where does Jean sleep?”

“In the servants’ quarters, on the third floor, in the rear of the house.”

“It must have taken you some time...”

“Several minutes, I fancy.  Jean sleeps soundly.”

“When you came back with him—­or at any time—­did you see or hear—?”

“Nothing out of the normal—­nobody.  Indeed, I at first believed you had somehow managed to overexert yourself and had fainted—­or had tripped on something and, falling, hurt your head.”

“Later, then, you found reason to revise that theory?”

“Not till early this morning.”

“Please tell me...”

“Well, you see ...  It all seemed so strange, I couldn’t sleep when I went back to bed, I lay awake, puzzled, uneasy.  It was broad daylight before I noticed that the screen which stands in front of my safe was out of place.  The safe is built into the solid wall, you know.  I got up then, and found the safe door an inch or so ajar.  Whoever opened it last night, closed it hastily and neglected to shoot the bolts.”

“And your jewels, of course—?”

She pronounced with unbroken composure:  “They have left me nothing, monsieur.”

Duchemin groaned and hung his head.  “I knew it!” he declared.  “No credit to me, however.  Naturally, whoever stole my candle and knocked me out didn’t break into the house for the fun of it ...  I imagine that, what with finding me insensible, waking Jean up, and getting me back in my room, you must have been away from yours fully half an hour.”

“Quite that long.”

“It couldn’t have been better arranged for the thieves,” he declared.  “If only I had stayed in my room—!”