"You will assist me in my search, will you not, Lorin?"
"Zounds! there will be no difficulty in that."
"Why so?"
"Without doubt, if you are so much interested, as to me you appear to be, in Madame Dixmer's fate, you, being intimate with her, ought, knowing her, also to know her friends. She has not quitted Paris; her friends have every motive to stay; she has taken refuge in the house of some confidential acquaintance, and to-morrow morning you will receive a billet by some 'Rose,' or some 'Marton,' couched as follows,—
"Wouldst see again, my Mars, thy Venus true?
Borrow of Night her scarf of azure hue.
And requesting you to present yourself at the porter's lodge, such a number, such a street, and to inquire for Madame Three-stars; that is all."
Maurice shrugged his shoulders; he well knew there was no one with whom Geneviève could take refuge.
"We shall not find her," said he.
"Will you permit me to say one thing, Maurice?"
"What?"