"Empty!" cried the police agent.
"Empty!" cried Maurice, turning pale; "where is she, then?"
Lorin regarded Maurice with astonishment.
"Let us search," said the agent of police, and closely followed by the military, he began to rummage the house from the cellars to the workshops. At length, when their backs were turned, Maurice, who had followed them impatiently with his eyes, in his turn darted into the chamber, opening the presses, which had already been opened, and calling in a voice replete with anxiety, "Geneviève! Geneviève!" But Geneviève made no reply; the chamber was indeed vacated. Then he began to search the house in a species of frenzy, out-houses, conservatories, sheds,—nothing was omitted, but all without success.
Suddenly a noise was heard, a troop of armed men presented themselves at the door, exchanged the password with the sentinel, entered the garden, and dispersed themselves over the house. At the head of this reinforcement waved the red plume of Santerre.
"Well!" said he to Lorin, "where is the conspirator?"
"How! where is the conspirator?"
"Yes! I asked what have you done with him?"
"I shall ask you that question. If your detachment had guarded the outlets properly, ere this he must have been arrested, since he was not in the house when we entered it."
"What! do you mean to say," cried the furious general, "that you have really allowed the Chevalier to escape?"