“I have given you the room on the first floor, immediately opposite that of the duke.”
“Good. And where are the ladies lodged?”
He made no difficulty about giving me an answer.
“They have a sitting room on the first floor,” he answered, “but hitherto they have not used it. They have two bedrooms, connected by an interior door, on the second floor, and they have not left them since their arrival.”
“Has the duke visited them there?”
“I don’t think he has seen them. They had a conversation on their arrival;” and the fellow grinned.
Now was my time. I took a hundred-franc note out of my pocket and held it in my hand so that he could see the figures on it. I hoped that he would not be exorbitant, for I had but one more and some loose napoleons in my pocket.
“What was the conversation about?” I asked.
He put out his hand for the note; but I kept my grasp on it. Honesty was not written large—no, nor plain to read—on Bontet’s fat face.
“I heard little of it; but the young lady said, as they hurried upstairs: ‘Where is he? Where is he?’”