The whole search, consequently, had to be concentrated upon the marquis and the country–seats and houses which he might possess at a certain distance from Paris, a distance which, allowing for the average speed of a motor–car and the inevitable stoppages, could be put at sixty to ninety miles.
Now d'Albufex, having sold everything that he ever had, possessed neither country–houses nor landed estates.
They turned their attention to the marquis' relations and intimate friends. Was he able on this side to dispose of some safe retreat in which to imprison Daubrecq?
The result was equally fruitless.
And the days passed. And what days for Clarisse Mergy! Each of them brought Gilbert nearer to the terrible day of reckoning. Each of them meant twenty–four hours less from the date which Clariss
