'You are Madame Bonanni, are you not?' inquired the woman, instead of answering.
'Of course I am! I want to know who sent you to me.'
'The note is for you, Madame, is it not?' asked the woman, by way of reply.
'Yes, certainly! Can't you answer my question?' Madame Bonanni was beginning to be angry.
'I will take the answer to the note, if there is one,' answered the other, coolly.
Madame Bonanni was on the point of flying into a rage, but she apparently thought better of it. The contents of the note might be true after all. She read it again.
Dear lady (it said), I am the victim of the most absurd and annoying mistake. I have been arrested for Schirmer, the betting man who murdered his mother-in-law and escaped from Paris yesterday. They will not let me communicate with any one till to-morrow morning and I have had great trouble in getting this line to you. For heaven's sake bring Schreiermeyer and anybody else you can find, to identify me, as soon as possible. I am locked up in a cell in the police station of the Third Arrondissement.——
Yours ever,
C. Logotheti.
Madame Bonanni looked at the woman again.