‘Did he mention my name—Pascal, Jules Pascal?’
The clerk shook his head.
‘Not to me, monsieur.’
Lefarge continued, as if to himself:—
‘He must have come through from Paris that night.’ And then to the clerk: ‘You don’t remember, I suppose, what time he arrived?’
‘Yes, I do. It was late in the evening, about eleven, I should think.’
‘Rather a chance coming at that hour, wasn’t it? He might easily have found you full?’
‘Oh, he had reserved his room. Earlier in the evening he telephoned up from a restaurant in the Boulevard Anspach that he was coming.’
‘Was that before five? I was to meet him about five.’
‘Not so early, I think. More like half-past seven or even eight, as well as I can remember.’