Because of the unusual and exciting turn of events, Humphrey for once had not brought food to Vivi. He would buy the food now and go back with it to the girls. Then he would go up to his own room and think. He must have an hour to think, to consider, to plan. Rosanne de Soigné would be safe enough that night with Vivi, and they both would be warm and fed. He thought Rosanne might be safe there for some time. The next all important problem was Lisle Saint Frère, the boy with the proud face, who had told him that he trusted him out of all Paris! To find out who were his captors, to find where they had hidden him, to rescue him, and to bring him to safety—these were the things above all others that he must do. He would think out what was the best thing to do during the snowy night, while the rats scudded back and forth in the walls of the dark alley and the two girls slept cuddled close together in the room below, covered with the blue velvet table cover and the piece of torn sacking. Rosanne would wake in the morning to find herself in the cold gloom of a poor tenement, but that night she had been too dazed and tired to take stock of her surroundings. She had eaten the bread which Humphrey had brought, and with it a piece of cheese. She had sat close to the fire with Vivi, and she had seen Vivi looking at her with the big, astonished black eyes that somehow were like Marie Josephine’s. The whole event of the evening had taken place so suddenly and unexpectedly. She and Lisle had been cosily roasting chestnuts by the fire one moment, and the next moment, so it seemed, he was gone, and Humphrey Trail had come and carried her off! It all seemed like a dream to her that evening, and she felt as though she would wake up at any moment. The dirty, dark room and the quiet, staring little girl did not seem real. But she liked Vivi and after the two girls had smiled at each other, they felt somehow like friends. Rosanne was very glad indeed that Vivi was there. She put her arm around Vivi, who sleepily did the same. Then she fell asleep and dreamt that she was running along the south terrace at Les Vignes with Marie Josephine and that the lilies were in bloom all along the way. CHAPTER XII DIAN MAKES A FRIEND