He gave his order and then, business being as it were off his mind, he relaxed so far as to look around. He glanced at the girl, seemed suddenly to recognise her, gave a mild start of surprise and leant forward with another bow.
‘Mademoiselle will perhaps pardon if I presume,’ he said, in his best manner, ‘but I think we have met before or, if not quite, almost.’
The girl raised her eyebrows but did not speak.
‘In the office of M. Boirac,’ went on the detective. ‘You would not, of course, notice, but I saw you there busy with a fine typewriter.’
Mademoiselle was not encouraging. She shrugged her shoulders, but made no reply. La Touche had another shot.
‘I am perhaps impertinent in addressing mademoiselle, but I assure her no impertinence is meant. I am the inventor of a new device for typewriters, and I try to get opinion of every expert operator I can find on its utility. Perhaps mademoiselle would permit me to describe it and ask hers?’
‘Why don’t you take it to some of the agents?’ She spoke frigidly.
‘Because, mademoiselle,’ answered La Touche, warming to his subject, ‘I am not quite certain if the device would be sufficiently valuable. It would be costly to attach and no firm would buy unless it could be shown that operators wanted it. That is what I am so anxious to learn.’
She was listening, though not very graciously. La Touche did not wait for a reply, but began sketching on the back of the menu.
‘Here,’ he said, ‘is my idea,’ and he proceeded to draw and describe the latest form of tabulator with which he was acquainted. The girl look at him with scorn and suspicion.