"Monsieur Otto, Monseigneur's first valet de chambre," the Suisse
murmured in Lecoq's ear.

This important personage came on behalf of Monsieur le Duc (he did not
say "Monseigneur") to inquire the meaning of all this uproar. When he
had received an explanation, M. Otto condescended to compliment Lecoq on
his efficiency, and to recommend that the house should be searched
from garret to cellar. These precautions alone would allay the fears of
Madame la Duchesse.

He then departed, and the search began again with renewed ardor. A
mouse concealed in the gardens of the Hotel de Sairmeuse could not
have escaped discovery, so minute were the investigations. Not a single
object of any size was left undisturbed. The trees were examined leaf
by leaf, one might almost say. Occasionally the discouraged servants
proposed to abandon the search; but Lecoq urged them on. He ran from
one to the other, entreating and threatening by turns, swearing that
he asked only one more effort, and that this effort would assuredly be
crowned with success. Vain promises! The fugitive could not be found.

The evidence was now conclusive. To persist in searching the garden
any longer would be worse than folly. Accordingly, the young detective
decided to recall his auxiliaries. "That's enough," he said, in a
despondent voice. "It is now certain that the criminal is no longer in
the garden."

Was he cowering in some corner of the great house, white with fear,
and trembling at the noise made by his pursuers? One might reasonably
suppose this to be the case; and such was the opinion of the servants.
Above all, such was the opinion of the Suisse who renewed with growing
assurance his affirmations of a few moments before.

"I have not moved from the threshold of the house to-night," he said,
"and I should certainly have seen any person who passed out."

"Let us go into the house, then," said Lecoq. "But first let me ask
my companion, who is waiting for me in the street, to join me. It is
unnecessary for him to remain any longer where he is."

When Father Absinthe had responded to the summons all the lower doors
were carefully closed and guarded, and the search recommenced inside
the house, one of the largest and most magnificent residences of the
Faubourg Saint-Germain. But at this moment all the treasures of the
universe could not have won a single glance or a second's attention
from Lecoq. All his thoughts were occupied with the fugitive. He
passed