As she returns, there is a muffled scream at the door of the coup‚.
"Mon Dieu!" Josephine screams. "My child! my Louise!" The coup‚ door is closing.
A strong voice cries to the driver, "Allez vite!"
As "Jehu" is about to lash his horses, an apparition glues him to his seat.
A gray-haired man points an ugly revolver at his head.
"Halt!" he says. The street is deserted. Villa Rocca opens the door. A strong hand hurls him to the gutter. Louise is urged from the coach. She is in her home again!
Peyton turns to grasp the man, who picks himself from the gutter. He is ten seconds too late. The carriage is off like a flash; it turns the corner at a gallop. Too cool to leave the fort unguarded, Peyton enters the salon. He finds Josephine moaning over Louise, who has fainted.
In a half-hour, PŠre Fran‡ois and the young men are a bodyguard on duty. Peyton drives to the bank, and telegraphs Woods at London:
"Come instantly! Attempt to abduct, prevented by me! Danger! PEYTON."
The next night, in the rooms of the miner, the padre and Peyton hold a council of war. An engine waits at the "Gare du Nord." When sunlight gilds once more Notre Dame, Peyton enters the car with a lady, clad in black. A maid, selected by Joseph Vimont, is of the party. "Monsieur Joseph" himself strolls into the depot. He jumps into the cab with the engineer. "Allons!" They are off.