"With you?"
"Yes."
"May I see them?"
"Certainly. If you will promise to respect them as my personal property?"
Simon hesitated. "You mean—" he frowned, and then impatiently: "Oh, yes, I promise that."
Coquenil drew an envelope from his breast pocket and from it he took a number of white-leather fragments. And he showed the chief that most of these fragments were stamped in gold letters or parts of letters.
"I'm satisfied," declared Simon after examining several of the fragments and returning them. "Bon Dieu!" he stormed at Gibelin. "And you had that bag in your hands!"
Gibelin sat silent. This was the wretchedest moment in his career.
"Well," continued the chief, "we must have these pieces of leather. What are your terms?"
"I told you," said Coquenil, "I want to be put back on the force. I want to handle this case."