The words were scarcely out of his mouth before I heard several persons
enter the passage below and begin to ascend the stairs. I did not;
doubt that mademoiselle and the lad had come home another way and, been
somehow detained; and I turned with a sigh of relief to receive them.
But when the persons whose steps I had heard appeared, they proved to be
only M. de Rosny's equerry, stout, burly, and bright-eyed as ever, and
two armed servants.

CHAPTER XXII. 'LA FEMME DISPOSE.'

The moment the equerry's foot touched the uppermost stair I advanced
upon him. 'Where is your mistress, man?' I said. 'Where is Mademoiselle
de la Vire? Be quick, tell me what you have done with her.'

His face fell amazingly. 'Where is she?' he answered, faltering between
surprise and alarm at my sudden onslaught. 'Here, she should be. I left
her here not an hour ago. Mon Dieu! Is she not here now?'

His alarm increased mine tenfold. 'No!' I retorted, 'she is not! She is
gone! And you--what business had you, in the fiend's name, to leave her
here, alone and unprotected? Tell me that!'

He leaned against the balustrade, making no attempt to defend himself,
and seemed, in his sudden terror, anything but the bold, alert fellow
who had ascended the stairs two minutes before. 'I was a fool,' he
groaned. 'I saw your man Simon here; and Fanchette, who is as good as a
man, was with her mistress. And I went to stable the horses. I thought
no evil. And now--My God!' he added, suddenly straightening himself,
while his face grew hard and grim, 'I am undone! My master will never
forgive me!'

'Did you come straight here?' I said, considering that, after all, he
was no more in fault than I had been on a former occasion.

'We went first to M. de Rosny's lodging,' he answered, 'where we found
your message telling us to come here. We came on without dismounting.'

'Mademoiselle may have gone back, and be there,' I said. 'It is
possible. Do you stay here and keep a good look-out, and I will go and
see. Let one of your men come with me.'

He uttered a brief assent; being a man as ready to take as to give
orders, and thankful now for any suggestion which held out a hope of
mademoiselle's safety. Followed by the servant he selected, I ran down
the stairs, and in a moment was hurrying along the Rue St. Denys. The
day was waning. The narrow streets and alleys were already dark, but the
air of excitement which I had noticed in the morning still marked the