"M. Bernet? Him with the eye out?"
"The same."
"Why, no, monsieur. I don't let lodgings. The building is not mine. I but rent the ground floor for my purposes."
"But M. Bernet lodges in the house, then?"
"No, he doesn't. He lodges round the corner, in the court off the Rue Clichet."
"But he comes here often?"
"Oh, aye. Every morning for his glass. And most evenings, too."
M. Étienne laid down the drink-money, and something more.
"Sometimes he has a friend with him, eh?"
The man laughed.