After a brief trial he abandoned the attempt and passed quickly on, through a bare lighted passage which led to the foot of a staircase, equally bare.

He stood at this point an instant and listened, in the hope that Madame's maid would come to him.

At first he heard nothing save his own breathing; then a gruff voice from above startled him.
"This way, Monsieur," it said.

"You are early, but not too soon!" So Madame trusted her footman! M.de Tignonville shrugged his shoulders; but after all, it was no affair of his, and he went up.

Halfway to the top, however, he stood, an oath on his lips.