station and the summons was to the following effect:

"Crime on train No. 45. A man murdered in the sleeper. All the
passengers held. Please come at once. Most important."

A fiacre was called instantly, and M. Floçon, accompanied by Galipaud
and Block, the two first inspectors for duty, was driven with all
possible speed across Paris.

He was met outside the station, just under the wide verandah, by the
officials, who gave him a brief outline of the facts, so far as they
were known, and as they have already been put before the reader.

"The passengers have been detained?" asked M. Floçon at once.

"Those in the sleeping-car only--"

"Tut, tut! they should have been all kept--at least until you had taken
their names and addresses. Who knows what they might not have been able
to tell?"

It was suggested that as the crime was committed presumably while the
train was in motion, only those in the one car could be implicated.

"We should never jump to conclusions," said the Chief snappishly. "Well,
show me the train card--the list of the travellers in the sleeper."

"It cannot be found, sir."

"Impossible! Why, it is the porter's business to deliver it at the end