"Where were you born?"
"What business is that of yours?" replied Adhémar, exasperated by these strange questions.
"You refuse to answer, then?"
"Yes, certainly. I came here to draw the money due to me. I don't intend to be cross examined like some criminal."
"Be careful, I am a commissary of police."
Puymirol turned pale. He realised, at last, that he had plunged blindly into a frightful abyss, and that his imprudence was about to cost him dear. He was resolved to defend himself to the last, however. "I was not aware that the managers of this popular lottery required the assistance of police officials in the performance of their duties," he retorted. "This precaution will hardly favour the sale of tickets, should it become known to the public, and I will take good care to inform people about it."
"You are speaking to a magistrate, remember. Tell me where, and when, you purchased this ticket?"
"At a tobacconist's, probably."
"What tobacconist's?"
"The deuce take me if I can remember. I purchased between twenty and thirty tickets, and in a dozen different places. They are all here on the table."