"Well, then, let me go on my own way, and you'll soon learn what I call 'good news.' No sooner said than done, as the folks say; and directly you had left me, away I went to the Boulevard Montmartre, where I took the omnibus to the Bastille; and from the Porte Saint Antoine I reached the Isle Saint Louis, where, of course, I began to take a close survey of the Hôtel Lambert from the great gate, situated in the Rue Saint Louis, to the end of the garden-wall which runs along the Quai d'Anjou."
"I told you to be very particular in observing a small side door which opens out upon this unfrequented quay."
"Oh, bless you! I forgot nothing. Make yourself quite easy upon that score; but, for the better furtherance of my first movement, it was necessary for me to keep a sharp look-out at the principal entrance. As there was neither coffee-house nor public-house in the immediate neighbourhood, from whence I could have observed all that passed, and as my loitering about would soon have excited suspicion in so lonely a street, I went as far as the hackney-coach stand on the Quai Saint Paul; there I engaged a fiacre by the hour, and, drawing down the blinds, I took up my station at the corner of the Rue Poultier, where your father-in-law lives."
"Capital! capital! and then——"
"Well, from there I could distinctly watch the gates of the Hôtel without being perceived by any one. Up to three o'clock, I saw nobody go in or out; and the days being so very short, I was just beginning to make up my mind to return home, when, all at once, a female, dressed in a puce-coloured gown and a brown bonnet, came out of the Hôtel, and proceeded directly to where I was waiting. I found it was a young person, black as old Nick himself—a kind of mulatto girl, as people call them,—only she had quite light blue eyes. I declare I never saw such a singular countenance in my life. However, as soon as my blackamoor had gone by, I slipped out of the coach, paid the driver as quickly as I could, and away I went after her."
"Well?"
"She went on to the Rue Poultier—then to the Quai d'Orleans—crossed the bridge; and, after having gone all round the Isle Saint Louis, returned back to the Hôtel Lambert by the little side door you mentioned to me. She was, evidently, merely taking a walk."
"Did you speak to her?"
"Speak to her! why, Lord! M. Charles, what a man you are! You know very well that I rather pride myself upon my prudence and good management in all difficult cases; and don't you see, that, up to the moment of her entering the grounds of the Hôtel Lambert by the private door, nothing had transpired to satisfy me she really formed one of the princess's household? And that was my first day's work; I confess it does not seem like doing much; but, at least, I had learned who to inquire for when I presented myself at the Hôtel."
"So far, so well. Now, go on."