Then the intruder would be let in.

My reception was quite otherwise. M. Villenave had hardly caught my name before he exclaimed—

"Show him in! show him in!"

In I went.

"Ah! here you are," he said. "Well, I wager you have not been able to find it!"

"What?"

"That famous autograph you promised me yesterday."

"Yes, indeed ... I have found it."

"And have you brought it?"

"To be sure I have!..."