“Monsieur, he drinks nothing but water, he does not smoke, and Glouglou says he speaks very pure French.”
“Glouglou is an authority who resolves the difficulty. ‘That other monsieur’ is a Frenchman.”
“But, monsieur, he is smooth-shaven.”
“Perhaps he has been a maitre d’hotel.”
“Eh! I wish one that I know could hope to dress as well when he retires! Besides, Glouglou says that other monsieur eats his soup silently.”
“I can find no flaw in the deduction,” I said, rising to go to bed. “We must leave it there for to-night.”
The next evening Amedee allowed me to perceive that he was concealing something under his arm as he stoked the coffee-machine, and upon my asking what it was, he glanced round the courtyard with histrionic slyness, placed the object on the table beside my cap, and stepped back to watch the impression, his manner that of one who declaims: “At last the missing papers are before you!”
“What is that?” I said.
“It is a book.”
“I am persuaded by your candour, Amedee, as well as by the general appearance of this article,” I returned as I picked it up, “that you are speaking the truth. But why do you bring it to me?”