At the gate a gendarme was standing, and just within the gate Ricardo saw Louis Besnard, the Commissaire, and Servettaz, Mme.

Dauvray's chauffeur.
"It is here," said Besnard, as the party descended from the cab, "in the coach-house of this empty villa." "Here ?" cried Ricardo in amazement.
The discovery upset all his theories.

He had expected to hear that it had been found fifty leagues away; but here, within a couple of miles of the Villa Rose itself--the idea seemed absurd! Why take it away at all--unless it was taken away as a blind?
That supposition found its way into Ricardo's mind, and gathered strength as he thought upon it; for Hanaud had seemed to lean to the belief that one of the murderers might be still in Aix.

Indeed, a glance at him showed that he was not discomposed by their discovery.
"When was it found ?" Hanaud asked.
"This morning.

A gardener comes to the villa on two days a week to keep the grounds in order.