“It was at the place they call the Gare de Lyon, sir. My mistress was thinking of getting out and walking up and down the platform. She was just going out into the corridor when she gave a sudden exclamation, and came back into her compartment with a gentleman. She shut the door between her carriage and mine, so that I didn’t see or hear anything, till she suddenly opened it again and told me that she had changed her plans. She gave me some money and told me to get out and go to the Ritz. They knew her well there, she said, and would give me a room. I was to wait there until I heard from her; she would wire me what she wanted me to do. I had just time to get my things together and jump out of the train before it started off. It was a rush.”
“While Mrs. Kettering was telling you this, where was the gentleman?”
“He was standing in the other compartment, sir, looking out of the window.”
“Can you describe him to us?”
“Well, you see, sir, I hardly saw him. He had his back to me most of the time. He was a tall gentleman and dark; that’s all I can say. He was dressed very like another gentleman in a dark blue overcoat and a grey hat.”
“Was he one of the passengers on the train?”
“I don’t think so, sir; I took it that he had come to the station to see Mrs. Kettering in passing through. Of course he might have been one of the passengers; I never thought of that.”
Mason seemed a little flurried by the suggestion.
“Ah!” M. Carrège passed lightly to another subject. “Your mistress later requested the conductor not to rouse her early in the morning. Was that a likely thing for her to do, do you think?”