Véronique stopped to think. But, in addition to the provisions stowed away by All's Well, she also noticed a small canvas–covered satchel under the bed; and she wondered why Stéphane Maroux had hidden it. She thought that she had the right to open it and to look for some clue to the part played by the tutor, to his character, to his past perhaps, to his relations with M. d'Hergemont and François:
"Yes," she said, "it is my right and even my duty."
Without hesitation, she took a pair of big scissors and forced the frail lock.
The satchel contained nothing but a manuscript–book, with a rubber band round it. But, the moment she opened the book, she stood amazed.
On the first page was her own portrait, her photograph as a girl, with her signature in full and the inscription:
"To my friend
