Carmen snatched the candelabra, and they passed through the door.
It will be remembered what happened when Goutran and his friends entered the passage. When their feet touched the stairs the panel closed. In fact, a secret mechanism connected the first stair with the iron door. Those who did not know it became prisoners at once, while others simply stepped over this stair, and so left the iron panel open. But neither Coucon nor the others knew this. Down went Coucon's foot in the wrong place, and the panel swung to. At the same moment Fanfar, Goutran and Bobichel appeared. They had been guided by the light.
"Goutran!" cried Carmen, running toward him.
"What! is it you who has delivered us?"
They went back all together, to find themselves prisoners? No, for Coucon had dropped the hammer, which accidentally fell in the aperture, thus preventing the door from closing entirely when the spring on the stair was touched. They were saved!
In Jane's room they held a consultation. Carmen communicated what she had heard, and showed the note she had taken from Laisangy.
"But where is the place he speaks of?" asked Fanfar.
"I can show you," she said, quietly.
Coucon ran to the stables, and in ten minutes the carriage stood at the door.
"Heaven grant that we arrive in time!" said Fanfar.