these Englishmen of whom you
speak, do not blame me."

Rayner heard them retire from the room. He now began to breathe more
freely, hoping, for the sake especially of Madame La Roche, that the
sergeant would be satisfied when they were not found in the house.

The ladies went on working and talking as if nothing were happening,
though their countenances betrayed their anxiety. The gendarmes had
been absent a sufficient time to make a thorough search through the
whole of the building when Rayner heard them coming back. Suddenly the
sergeant stopped, and asked, in a loud voice, "What is the object of
this ladder, my friend?"

"To reach the roof from the verandah, or to enable the inmates to
descend should the house be on fire," answered Francois, promptly.

"The roof everywhere overlaps the verandah," answered the sergeant, "and
no ladder is necessary to get out of these windows to the ground. It
appears to me of a length suited to reach the ceiling. Come, show me
any trapdoor through which I can reach the loft over the rooms. You
forgot, my friend, that part of the house."

"A trapdoor in the ceiling! What a strange thought of yours!" exclaimed
Francois. "However, perhaps you will find it, should one exist, that
you may be satisfied on that point, and let one of your men take the
ladder, for I am old, and it would fatigue me to carry it."

One of the gendarmes took up the ladder, and he could be heard knocking
at the ceiling in various directions. Still Rayner hoped that they
would not discover the dark corner, which Francois evidently had no
intention to show them.

"It must be found somewhere or other," he heard the sergeant say. "This
ladder is exactly suited to reach it."

At last he entered the room where the ladies were seated.

"Will madame have the goodness to tell me whereabouts the trapdoor is
that leads to the roof?" he asked.

"The trapdoor leading to the roof!" repeated Madame La Roche. "It is
not likely that an old woman, as I am, would have scrambled up there, or
my delicate daughters either. Surely, Monsieur Sergeant, you are
laughing at me."

The sergeant turned away, but presently one of the men exclaimed, "I
have found it! I have found it--here, up in this corner!"

Rayner heard the men ascending, the trap was lifted, but he and his
companions lay perfectly still, hoping that in the darkness they might
not be perceived.

But the gendarme, after waiting a few seconds to acc