"Where can she be?" said the Duke.
"Be?" said the inspector. "I expect she's with the burglars—an accomplice."
"I gather that M. Gournay-Martin had the greatest confidence in her," said the Duke.
"He'll have less now," said the inspector drily. "It's generally the confidential ones who let their masters down."
The inspector and his men set about a thorough search of the house. They found the other rooms undisturbed. In half an hour they had established the fact that the burglars had confined their attention to the two drawing-rooms. They found no traces of them; and they did not find Victoire. The concierge could throw no light on her disappearance. He and his wife had been taken by surprise in their sleep and in the dark.
They had been gagged and bound, they declared, without so much as having set eyes on their assailants. The Duke and the inspector came back to the plundered drawing-room.
The inspector looked at his watch and went to the telephone.
"I must let the Prefecture know," he said.
"Be sure you ask them to send Guerchard," said the Duke.
"Guerchard?" said the inspector doubtfully.
