"Sixty thousand francs in gold in the proprietor's cabinet."
"And you know all the ways?"
"Perfectly."
"Silence, here we are; not a word before the vulgar. I do not know if you feel as I do, but the morning air has given me an appetite."
The Chouette was awaiting them at the door.
"This way; this way," she said. "I have ordered our breakfast."
Rodolph wished the brigand to pass in first, for certain reasons; but the Schoolmaster insisted on showing so much politeness, that Rodolph entered before him. Before he sat down, the Schoolmaster tapped lightly against each of the divisions of the wainscot, that he might ascertain their thickness and power of transmitting sounds.
"We need not be afraid to speak out," said he; "the division is not thin. We shall have our breakfast soon, and shall not be disturbed in our conversation."
A waiter brought in the breakfast, and before he shut the door Rodolph saw the charcoal-man, Murphy, seated with great composure at a table in a room close at hand.
The room in which the scene took place that we are describing was long and narrow, lighted by one window, which looked into the street, and was opposite to the door. The Chouette turned her back to this window, whilst the Schoolmaster was at one side of the table, and Rodolph on the other.