"Good!" Valentin closed the door and led the way to his room. Grace followed, wondering what the man intended to do.
"Why have you come here twice during the past two days?" he asked, abruptly, after he had lit the lamp and carefully shut the door.
Grace determined to be quite frank with him. "I wanted to ask you some questions, Monsieur Valentin," she replied.
"Ha! You know my name?"
"Certainly."
He appeared somewhat uneasy. "What are you up to?"
"I am trying to find Mr. Stapleton"s child."
A queer smile came over the fellow"s face. "Is that why you stole the cigarettes?" he asked.
"I did not steal them. They were taken by a man with a black beard, who came in through the window when I was here."
"A black beard?" He smiled incredulously. "And you let him take them."
"Yes. Why not? Were they of such great value?"
He glanced about uneasily, but did not reply to her question. "Who was the man?" he presently asked.
"I do not know. I followed him. He entered Mr. Stapleton"s house."
"Sacre! It must have been Francois!"
"Hardly. Francois has no beard."
"But he might have been disguised." He seemed very much perturbed. "What a pity I was so careless!"
"Monsieur Valentin, will you please tell me what those cigarettes have to do with the kidnapping of Mr. Stapleton"s child?"
He looked at her closely for a moment. "Everything," he answered gloomily, "and--nothing. I was a fool to have left them here."
Grace began to feel more and more composed. This man did not talk like one of the band of criminals. "Do you know where the child is?" she suddenly asked.
"Perhaps." He observed her narrowly. "Do you?"
"No. If I did, I should restore him to his poor mother."
"What were you doing in that automobile?"
"I was a prisoner. And you?"
Again he evaded her question. "It is my own affair," he growled.
"Did you not see who it was that drove the car?" she asked.
Instead of replying, he flung himself into a chair. "Sit down, Mademoiselle, and tell me the whole story. If I find that you are frank with me, I promise to be equally so with you."
Suddenly Grace felt an intuition that the man was honest. She determined to do as he asked. "Very well. I will tell you the truth. I am trying to recover Mr. Stapleton"s child. Last night I was watching the house. I was seized from behind, thrown into an automobile, and taken--I do not know where. This morning a message to Mr. Stapleton was given me.
Tonight I was brought here, blindfolded, in an automobile. Then I met you. That is all I know."
Valentin appeared disappointed. "Then you do not know where the child is?" he asked.
"The child is where I was--I saw it."
As Grace said this, her companion leaped excitedly from his chair. "Then we have them!" he cried.
"I do not understand."
"Mademoiselle, this evening I was watching Monsieur Stapleton"s house.
Like yourself, I desire to recover the child. I saw Francois leave in Monsieur Stapleton"s automobile. I climbed in behind, as he left the house. It was dark. He did not see me. He drove out toward Versailles."
"Toward Versailles?" exclaimed Grace.
"Yes. Why do you seem so surprised."
"Never mind. Go on."
"After a time, he stopped by the roadside. I got out, and hid in the shadow of some trees. Presently you were brought, blindfolded, by a man, who entered the car with you. When it again started, I climbed on behind. That is how I came to meet you."
"Then you don"t know where the house is, from which I was brought?"
"No. There are many houses--all about. There was no way of knowing, in the dark. Did you come far--when they brought you to the automobile?"
"Yes. Several hundred yards, at least. But you know the spot, on the roadside?"
"Yes. I can find it, without difficulty."
"Monsieur Valentin, I have a plan--a very dangerous plan--for recovering Mr. Stapleton"s boy. I cannot tell you what it is now. Tomorrow I will tell you--tomorrow afternoon. I shall want your a.s.sistance."
"What am I to do?"
"Can you drive an automobile?"
The man smiled. "Decidedly. It is my profession."
"Splendid! You will wait for me here, and I will come, and tell you what you are to do. I shall arrive not later than six o"clock." She rose.
"Now I must go; but before I do so, tell me one thing. What is the mystery of the gold-tipped cigarettes?"
Her question seemed to drive from Valentin"s face all the good nature that had dwelt there the moment before. "I cannot tell you that," he growled. "You must not ask me. Let me advise you to drop the matter of the cigarettes, and report your message to Mr. Stapleton at once."
For a moment, Grace almost regretted her frankness. Suppose, after all, he should prove to be but a confederate of the kidnappers, in league with Mary Lanahan, the nurse, to spirit the boy away in the first place, and now sent by them, in the guise of a spy clinging to the rear of the automobile, to find out what step she proposed to take to capture them?
She paused in indecision. Suddenly there was a tapping upon the door of the room.
Valentin went to the door and cautiously opened it. The landlady stood on the landing outside. "There is a man to see you, at the door below, Monsieur," she said in a low tone.