“No, perhaps not. Where did you live before you came here?”
“Mademoiselle, this gray shape is very pretty.” And so on.
That plan would not work.
But before long something very suspicious happened. One evening, just about dusk, as Madame Laroque was walking up and down in front of her door, a man of a youthful appearance came quickly up the street, stepped upon Mademoiselle Viau’s platform, opened the door without knocking, and walked in. Mademoiselle was working in the last vestige of daylight, and the widow watched her like a lynx. She worked on unconcernedly, and when it became so dark that she could not see she lit her lamp and pulled down the curtain. That night Madame Laroque did not go into Cuerrier’s. It commenced to rain, but she put on a large frieze coat of the deceased Laroque and crouched in the dark. She was very much interested in this case, but her interest brought no additional knowledge. She had seen the man go in; he was rather young and about the medium height, and had a black mustache; she could remember him distinctly, but she did not see him come out.
The next morning Mademoiselle Viau’s curtain went up as usual, and as it was her day to go to the butcher’s she went out. While she was away Madame Laroque took a long look in at the side window, but there was nothing to see except the lounge and the table.
While Madame Laroque had been watching in the rain, Cuerrier was reading to Villeblanc from Le Monde. “Hello!” said he, and then went on reading to himself.
“Have you lost your voice?” asked Villeblanc, getting nettled.
“No, no; listen to this—‘Daring Jewel Robbery. A Thief in the Night.’ ” These were the headings of the column, and then followed the particulars. In the morning the widow borrowed the paper, as she had been too busy the night before to come and hear it read. She looked over the front page, when her eye caught the heading, “Daring Jewel Robbery,” and she read the whole story. As she neared the end her eyebrows commenced to travel up her forehead, as if they were going to hide in her hair, and with an expression of surprise she tossed the paper to her second cousin.
“Look here!” she said, “read this out to me.”
The second cousin commenced to read at the top.