have it!" shouted Bobichel, inserting the blade of his knife
in one of the plaits of the silk.

Fanfar said hastily, "It is an iron door, and there must be a spring.
Let us try, each of us, and feel over the whole wall, if it is
necessary."

They went to work, and presently Bobichel was lucky enough to press a
little knob. A panel slowly opened, and a puff of warm air came full in
the eager faces of the anxious men. With the light of their candles they
saw a well-finished passage and two or three stairs; it was too dark to
see more.

"This is the way that Jane was abducted, and this is the way that
Esperance went. Let us see where it goes." And Fanfar started first.

Hardly had they reached the stairs than they heard the iron door close
behind them. In spite of all their courage, they shuddered. Had the door
shut of itself, or had it been closed by some invisible enemy? They
turned back hastily, but there was not the smallest sign to be seen of
door or spring.

"What had we best do?" asked Goutran, uneasily.

Fanfar reflected a moment. "As we cannot go back, let us hasten forward
with all possible speed. We will find the way out."

"Or we will make one!" cried Bobichel.

The three friends started once more, Bobichel in front, holding a heavy
bronze candelabra.

CHAPTER LX.

ESPERANCE IN DESPAIR.

It was indeed by this mysterious path that Esperance had gone. When he
heard that Jane was not to be found, he at first could hardly comprehend
what was said. He ran to Jane's room and looked about, then scarce
knowing what he did, he left the house and then returned to it, after
having wandered over Paris for two or three hours. No one noticed his
pallor when he entered the hotel. He went to Jane's room again, and
there, lying back in a low chair, he looked about with sad eyes.

Suddenly he saw a panel slowly open in the wall. He was not afraid.
Esperance did not know the sensation, and now he simply expected some
revelation. He instantly knew that this was the path by which Jane had
been taken away. He rose and entered the dark corridor. He had no light,
and the door at once closed behind him; but he had inherited his
father's singular power of seeing in the dark.

He discovered the stairs, and began to descend them. He went on and on,
and then another corridor, and then more stairs. Finally he reached a
door, which he opened, and entered a large room hung with silk. It was
one of the houses which ha