"But she is to come, is she not?" "Do you think so?" "Why, I'm certain of it. Where do you think she is? Can you remember? . . ." "It's no use my trying. I assure you that Geneviève and I had made no arrangement to see each other." And, suddenly alarmed: "But you're not anxious, are you? Has anything happened to Geneviève?" "No, nothing." He had already left the room. An idea had occurred to him. Suppose Altenheim were not at the Villa des Glycines? Suppose the hour of the meeting had been changed! "I must see him," he said to himself. "I must, at all costs." And he ran along with a disordered air, indifferent to everything. But, in front of the lodge, he at once recovered his composure: he had caught sight of the deputy-chief of the detective-service talking to the brothers Doudeville in the garden. Had he commanded his usual acute discernment, he would have perceived the little start which M. Weber gave as he approached; but he saw nothing: "M. Weber, I believe?" he asked. "Yes. . . . To whom have I the honor . . . ?" "Prince Sernine." "Ah, very good! Monsieur le Préfet de Police has told me of the great service which you are doing us, monsieur." "That service will not be complete until I have handed the ruffians over to you." "That won't take long. I believe that one of those ruffians has just gone in; a powerful-looking man, with a swarthy complexion. . . ." "Yes, that's Baron Altenheim. Are your men here, M. Weber?" "Yes, concealed along the road, at two hundred yards from this." "Well, M. Weber, it seems to me that you might collect them and bring them to this lodge. From here we will go to the villa. As Baron Altenheim knows me, I presume they will open the door to me and I will go in . . . with you." "It is an excellent plan," said M. Weber. "I shall come back at once." He left the garden and walked down the road, in the opposite direction to the Villa des Glycines. Sernine quickly took one of the brothers Doudeville by the arm: "Run after him, Jacques . . . keep him engaged . . . long enough for me to get inside the Glycines. . . . And then delay the attack as long as you can. . . . Invent pretexts. . . . I shall want ten minutes. . . . Let the villa be surrounded . . . but not entered. And you, Jean, go and post yourself in the Pavillon Hortense, at the entrance to the underground passage. If the baron tries to go out that way, break his head." The Doudevilles moved away, as ordered. The prince slipped out and ran to a tall gate, barred with iron, which was the entrance to the Glycines. Should he ring? . . . There was no one in sight. With one bound, he leapt upon the gate, placing his foot on the lock; and, hanging on to the bars, getting a purchase with his knees and hoisting himself up with his wrists, he managed, at the risk of falling on the sharp points of the bars, to climb over the gate and jump down.