He looked once more about the room.

He did not find his answer, but he caught sight of an ornament upon the wall which drove the question from his mind.

The ornament, if so it could be called, was a painted tambourine with a bunch of bright ribbons tied to the rim; and it was hung upon the wall between the settee and the fireplace at about the height of a man's head.

Of course it might be no more than it seemed to be--a rather gaudy and vulgar toy, such as a woman like Mme.

Dauvray would be very likely to choose in order to dress her walls.