“Yes, I am a friend of his,” he replied; “and if I could see him, I could probably render him an important service.”
“Well, you are too late.”
“Why?”
“Because M. Vincent put off more than twenty-four hours since?”
“Are you sure of that?”
“As sure as a person can be who went to the railway station yesterday with him and all his baggage.”
“You saw him leave?”
“As I see you.”
“Where was he going?”
“To Havre, to take the steamer for Brazil, which was to sail on the same day; so that, by this time, he must be awfully seasick.”