"Lloyd, I believe you, I trust you, I love you. No matter what you have
done, I love you. It was because my love is so great that I refused you
this afternoon. But you need me now, you're in trouble now, and, Lloyd,
if--if you want me still, I'm yours, all yours."

"O God!" murmured Kittredge, and even the hardened policeman choked a
little. "I'm the happiest man in Paris, but--" He could say no more except
with a last longing look: "Good-by."

Wildly, fiercely she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him
passionately on the mouth--their first kiss. And she murmured: "I love you,
I love you."

Then they led Kittredge away.

[Illustration: "'Alice, I am innocent.'"]




CHAPTER V

COQUENIL GETS IN THE GAME


It was a long night at the Ansonia and a hard night for M. Gritz. France is
a land of infinite red tape where even such simple things as getting born
or getting married lead to endless formalities. Judge, then, of the
complicated procedure involved in so serious a matter as getting
murdered--especially in a fashionable restaurant! Long before the