"Again," he said gravely, "I am to remind you that I am captain of the ship and do not show my observation."
He tore open the envelope and sprang up from his seat.
"Mme. Dauvray's motor-car has been found," he cried. "Let us go!"
Hanaud called for the bill and paid it. The three men left the Villa des Fleurs together.
CHAPTER IX
MME. DAUVRAY'S MOTOR-CAR
They got into a cab outside the door. Perrichet mounted the box, and the cab was driven along the upward-winding road past the Hotel Bernascon. A hundred yards beyond the hotel the cab stopped opposite to a villa. A hedge separated the garden of the villa from the road, and above the hedge rose a board with the words "To Let" upon it. At the gate a gendarme was standing, and just within the gate Ricardo saw Louis Besnard, the Commissaire, and Servettaz, Mme. Dauvray's chauffeur.
"It is here," said Besnard, as the party descended from the cab, "in the coach-house of this empty villa."
"Here?" cried Ricardo in amazement.