"Just what I say," replied the commissaire. "We have searched this tumbledown barrack through and through. The women are there—in charge of my men. They did not protest; they did not hinder us in any way. But I tell you," added M. Cognard, as he mopped his streaming forehead, "there's not a cat or a mouse concealed in that place. We have searched every hole and corner."
"Bah!" said the Man in Grey with a frown. "Some secret hiding-place has escaped you!"
"Ask your own trusted men," retorted the commissaire. "They have worked with ours."
"Have you questioned the women?"
"Yes! They adhere to Mademoiselle's story in every point."
"Do they know that I—a member of His Majesty's secret police force—saw Jacques de Romaine enter this house on Tuesday night, and that I swear he did not leave it the whole of that night; whilst my own men are equally ready to swear that he has not left it since?"
"They know that."
"And what is their answer?"
"That we must demand an explanation from the man who was lurking round here in the dark when Jacques de Romaine had priceless jewels in his possession," replied the chief commissary.
The stern features of the Man in Grey relaxed into a smile.