"Tell me just what he said, if you can."
"He told me that it was the portrait of one of his customers. A month ago this customer came to him to buy a complete set of furniture—drawing-room, dining-room, bed-room, and the rest—for a little house which he had just rented. He did not beat him down at all, and only made one condition to the purchase, and that was, that everything should be ready and in place, and the curtains and carpets put in, within three weeks from that time; that is a week ago last Monday."
"And what was the sum-total of the purchase?"
"Eighteen thousand francs, half paid down in advance, and half on the day of delivery."
"And who carried the last half of the money to the upholsterer?"
"A servant."
"What name did this customer give?"
"He called himself Monsieur James Wilson; but Monsieur Rech said he did not seem like an English-man."
"Where does he live?"
"The furniture was carried to a small house, No. 34 Rue St. Lazare, near the Havre station."