“Oh! they’re in the garret at the top,” said the old maid. “They’ve left the window open, you see, just as they found it. Look! I think I can see one of them hiding behind the pomegranate on the balcony.”
The others excitedly craned out their necks, but could see nothing.
“Ah, no, it’s only a shadow,” continued Mademoiselle Saget. “The little curtains even are perfectly still. The detectives must be sitting down in the room, and keeping quiet.”
Just at that moment the women caught sight of Gavard coming out of the fish market with a thoughtful air. They looked at him with glistening eyes, without speaking. They had drawn close to one another, and stood there rigid in their drooping skirts. The poultry dealer came up to them.
“Have you seen Florent go by?” he asked.
They replied that they had not.
“I want to speak to him at once,” continued Gavard. “He isn’t in the fish market. He must have gone up to his room. But you would have seen him, though, if he had.”
The women had turned rather pale. They still kept looking at each other with a knowing expression, their lips twitching slightly every now and then. “We have only been here some five minutes, said Madame Lecœur unblushingly, as her brother-in-law still stood hesitating.
“Well, then, I’ll go upstairs and see. I’ll risk the five flights,” rejoined Gavard with a laugh.
La Sarriette stepped forward as though she wished to detain him, but her aunt took hold of her arm and drew her back.