Villebois and Marcel, having seen the ladies safe in the summer-house, ran round to the garden gate and hurried to the nearest fire alarm, while the others ran to the house to ascertain the cause of the fire. Renée looked round and missed her lover. "Henri! Henri!" she cried, "where are you? They have left him in the cabinet. O God be merciful!" She ran after Riche in an agony of fear, "Quick, doctor, come and help me and get the professor away, he is asleep in the cabinet." "My dear child, I dare not wake him; he told me on no account to disturb him, but we can stand by and remove him as soon as there is any danger. It will only be the work of a minute to carry him out into the garden. You need not be alarmed, there is nothing to fear." At this moment Céleste joined them. "What can have caused the fire?" she asked. "Oh, pray don't discuss that now. Let us set to work to put it out," said Riche. "Do you think Pierre has had anything to do with this?" "How could Pierre have done it? He is not in the house," replied Riche, "He left some time ago; don't you remember his telling us that he had to go to his office at once, and asking us to apologise to Madame Villebois for him?" "Of course I do," replied Céleste, "but I am not so sure that he did leave the house." "What do you mean?" asked Renée, who had heard her sister's remark. "I am afraid he wants to harm Professor Delapine," said Céleste. "Nonsense," cried Renée, "you surely don't mean to say he wants to injure Delapine?" "No, no," said Riche, getting alarmed in turn, "she didn't mean that exactly, she merely meant to say--that we must set to work to extinguish the fire if we want to save the house. Now, mademoiselle, you go back to the summer-house with Céleste, and don't stir until I come back, and I promise you no harm shall come to Delapine. Meanwhile I will walk round the house." With these words he left the two girls, and proceeded to assist the others in tracing the source of the fire. "I wonder if there can be any truth in Céleste's remark," muttered Riche to himself. "No, no, what Céleste is saying is all nonsense, I will never believe it. I feel convinced that Pierre is in his chambers by this time." On the day before the séance, Pierre had purchased a quantity of shavings and a large bottle of naphtha together with some phosphorous which he dissolved in it. "Ah," he said to himself, "this will make a famous blaze, and no one will be able to guess who did it."