"I am sure of it, and I am also sure that, touched by the trying situation in which I am placed, you will return the pocket-book to me."
"You are too hasty in your conclusions, for even if the article were in my possession, I should not return it without due consideration. In the first place, I should have to know whom I have to deal with, for there is nothing to prove that you are not an emissary of the man, who, as you pretend, hired some fellows to follow you. You would have to tell me your name and address, in order that I might make the necessary inquiries respecting you."
"My name and address are a secret that I am not free to divulge. Be more generous. Restore me the letters without demanding my name. It would be a most kind and noble action, and later on, I shall be able to repay the debt of gratitude I owe you." Puymirol seemed in no haste to reply. He now felt sure that Dargental's murderer sat before him, and he was asking himself what course he had better pursue. "I can now confess that I fully expected to purchase the pocket-book from the finder," continued the stranger. "I was ready and willing to give him as many thousand francs as he chose to ask for it; but, on seeing you, I realised that such a course was out of the question. One can not offer money to a gentleman like you. One can only appeal to his feelings, and invoke his pity for an imprudent woman."
"You argue exactly as if I had the letters in my pocket," said Adhémar, in order to gain time.
"In your pocket, or in your desk at home, which amounts to the same thing, as it is in your power to restore them to me in either case."
"You would consent to accompany me home, then?"
"Instantly, if you wish it."
"But I don't wish it. You refuse to tell me where you live, so I don't see why I should tell you where I live."
"Well, there is nothing to prevent you from making an appointment with me for to-morrow at this same restaurant."
"I only make appointments with my friends."