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last on the course, it was quite unexpectedly and with such vigour that I cannoned heavily into a young lady who had been standing with her back to the plantation. She not unnaturally gave a suppressed shriek, but I, too, uttered an exclamation of surprise. For it was my friend of the train, Cinderella!
    The surprise was mutual.
    'You?' we both exclaimed simultaneously.
    The young lady recovered herself first.
    'My old friend,' she exclaimed. 'What are you doing here?'
    'For the matter of that, what are you?' I retorted.
    'When last I saw you, the day before yesterday, you were trotting home to England like a good little boy.'
    'When last I saw you,' I said, 'you were trotting home with your sister, like a good little girl. By the way, how is your sister?'
    A flash of white teeth rewarded me.
    'How kind of you to ask! My sister is well, I thank you.'
    'She is here with you?'
    'She remained in town,' said the minx with dignity.
    'I don't believe you've got a sister,' I laughed. 'If you have, her name is Harris!'
    'Do you remember mine?' she asked with a smile.
    'Cinderella. But you're going to tell me the real one now, aren't you?'
    She shook her head with a wicked look.
    'Not even why you're here?'
    'Oh, that! I suppose you've heard of members of my profession “resting”.'
    'At expensive French watering-places?'
    'Damn cheap if you know where to go.'
    I eyed her keenly.
    'Still, you'd no intention of coming here when I met you two days ago?'
    'We all have our disappointments,' said Miss Cinderella sententiously. 'There now, I've told you quite as much as is good for you. Little boys should not be inquisitive. You've not yet told me what you're doing here?'
    'You remember my telling you that my great friend was a detective?'
    'Yes?'
    'And perhaps you've heard about this crime - at the Villa Geneviève?'
    She stared at me. Her breast heaved, and her eyes grew wide and round.
    'You don't mean - that you're in on -'
    I nodded. There was no doubt that I had scored heavily. Her emotion, as she regarded me, was only too evident. For some few seconds she remained silent, staring at me. Then she nodded her head emphatically.
    'Well, if that doesn't beat the band! Tote me round. I want to see all the horrors.'
    'What do you mean?'
    'What I say. Bless the boy, didn't I tell you I doted on crimes? I've been nosing round for hours. It's a real piece of luck happening on you this way. Come on, show me all the sights.'
    'But look here - wait a minute - I can't. Nobody's allowed in.'
    'Aren't you and your friend the big bugs?'
    I loath to relinquish my position of importance.
    'Why are you so keen?' I asked weakly. 'And what is it you want to see?'
    'Oh, everything! The place where it happened, and the weapon, and the body, and any fingerprints or interesting things like that. I've never had a chance before of being right in on a murder like this. It'll last me all my life.'
    I turned away, sickened. What were women coming to nowadays? The girl's ghoulish excitement nauseated me.
    'Come off your high horse,' said the lady suddenly. 'And don't give yourself airs. When you got called to this job, did you put your nose in the air and say it was a nasty business, and you wouldn't be mixed up in it?'
    'No, but -'
    'If you'd been here on a holiday, wouldn't you be nosing round just the same as I am? Of course you would.'
    'I'm a man. You're a woman.'
    'Your idea of a woman is someone who gets on a chair and shrieks if she sees a mouse. That's all prehistoric. But you will show me round, won't you? You see, it might make a big difference to me.'
    'In what way?'
    'They're keeping all the reporters out. I might make a big scoop with one of the papers. You don't know how much they pay for a bit of inside stuff.'
    I hesitated. She slipped a small soft hand into mine. 'Please - there's a dear.'
    I capitulated. Secretly, I knew that I should rather enjoy the part of showman.
    We repaired first to the spot where the body had been discovered. A man was