Thanks to the Duke, the party was of a liveliness to which the gorgeous dining-room had been very little used since it had been so fortunate as to become the property of M.Gournay-Martin.
The millionaire had been looking forward to an evening of luxurious woe, deploring the loss of his treasures--giving their prices--to his sympathetic friends.

The Duke had other views; and they prevailed.
After dinner the guests went to the smoking-room, since the drawing-rooms were in possession of Guerchard.

Soon after ten the Duke slipped away from them, and went to the detective.

Guerchard's was not a face at any time full of expression, and all that the Duke saw on it was a subdued dulness.
"Well, M.Guerchard," he said cheerfully, "what luck?
Have any of your men come across any traces of the passage of the burglars with their booty ?" "No, your Grace; so far, all the luck has been with the burglars.

For all that any one seems to have seen them, they might have vanished into the bowels of the earth through the floor of the cellars in the empty house next door.