"Is the gentleman married?"
"No, madame."
"I hope you will not be surprised at the questions I put to you, but I have such a horror of a noise over my head, and of bad company, that I should like to be sure that my future neighbour is not boisterous like so many young men, and that his acquaintances are not such persons as it would be disagreeable for me to meet on the stairways as I go and come."
"M. Michel Renaud have any such company as that! Oh, no, madame; oh, no!" exclaimed the concierge, indignantly.
An expression of hope and joy irradiated the lady's sad face for an instant, and she replied, with a smile:
"I had no intention of maligning the gentleman, and the evident astonishment my question causes you is very reassuring."
"M. Renaud is one of the steadiest of men. Every day of the world—Sundays and holidays as well—he leaves his rooms at half-past three or four o'clock in the morning at the very latest, and never returns until midnight, so he has no visitors."
"They would certainly have to be remarkably early ones, in that case," remarked the young woman, who seemed to take a deep interest in these details. "But does the gentleman leave as early as that every morning?"
"Yes, madame, in winter as well as summer. Nothing keeps him."
"But what business does the gentleman follow that it is necessary for him to leave home by four o'clock in the morning, and remain away until midnight?"