"The girl?" The other started.
"The girl Alice or—Mary your stepdaughter."
"God Almighty!" burst out the baron. "What a guess!"
M. Paul shook his head. "No, not a guess, a fair deduction. My ring is gone. It was on my hand before you gave me that chloroform. You took it. That means you needed it. Why? To get the girl! You knew it would bring her, though how you knew it is more than I can understand."
"Gibelin heard you speak of the ring to Pougeot that night in the automobile."
"Ah! And how did you know where the girl was?"
"Guessed it partly and—had Pougeot followed."
"And she's coming here?"
The baron nodded. "She ought to be here shortly." Then with a quick, cruel smile: "I suppose you know why I want her?"
"I'm afraid I do," said Coquenil.