"But later she seemed as surprised and sorry as I am
myself. Oh, no, Count, I am sure you are wrong--why you forget that
Madame Wachner walked up to the Pension Malfait that same evening--I mean
the evening of the day Anna left Lacville. In fact, it was Madame Wachner
who first found out that Anna had not come home. She went up to her
bed-room to look for her."
"Then it was Madame Wachner who found the letter?" observed the Count
interrogatively.
"Oh, no, it was not Madame Wachner who found it. Anna's letter was
discovered the next morning by the chambermaid in a blotting-book on the
writing table. No one had thought of looking there. You see they were all
expecting her back that night. Madame Malfait still thinks that poor Anna
went to the Casino in the afternoon, and after having lost her money came
back to the pension, wrote the letter, and then went out and left for
Paris without saying anything about it to anyone!"
"I suppose something of that sort did happen," observed the Comte de
Virieu thoughtfully.
"And now," he said, getting up from his chair, "I think I will take a
turn at the Casino after all!"
Sylvia's lip quivered, but she was too proud to appeal to him to stay.
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