"Go down, then, and ask the porter, and inquire of all the neighbors!"
Scævola descended.
"Quicker! quicker!" said his master; "do you not see I am burning with impatience?"
After waiting five or six minutes, and Scævola not having made his appearance, Maurice re-entered the apartment and again leaned out of the window. He saw Scævola enter several shops, and leave them without having gained any fresh intelligence. He called him. The official raised his head, and saw his master impatiently looking from the window. Maurice signed to him to come up.
"It is impossible that she has gone out," said Maurice to himself, and again he called, "Geneviève! Geneviève!"
All was silent as death; even the solitary chamber appeared no longer to have an echo. Scævola reappeared.
"Well?" demanded Maurice.
"The porter is the only person who has seen her."
"The porter has seen her; how was that?"
"He saw her go out."