“Are you acquainted with the ladies who have rooms on the first floor?” he asked with an air of mystery.
“I met them here for the first time,” said I.
I believe he doubted me; perhaps waiters are bred to suspicion by the things they see.
“Ah!” said he, “then it does not interest you to know that a gentleman has been to see the young lady?”
I took out ten francs.
“Yes, it does,” said I, handing him the money. “Who was it?”
“The Duke of Saint-Maclou,” he whispered mysteriously.
“Is he gone?” I asked in some alarm. I had no wish to encounter him.
“This half-hour, sir.”
“Did he see both the ladies?”