“That is a cast-iron pipe used for the drains.”
“You are right! Come along!”
“Put your shoes in your pocket.”
After doing so the agent seized hold of the leaden pipe with his hands, and separating his knees in the angle of the wall to protect himself by the friction, he silently began to descend. Baudoin, leaning over the roof, watched the operation with anxious curiosity. He was not afraid that Laforêt would be found lacking in strength or agility, but was wondering if the pipe would prove solid. Suppose the attaching cramp-irons became loose, both pipe and man would fall to the ground with a terrible clatter. The alarm would be raised, and the consequences of such an accident might be disastrous. But his anxiety did not last long. At the end of a few seconds Laforêt had reached the roof, and was lying there extended at full length.
Baudoin thereupon followed suit. On reaching the bottom of the window, where the meeting was being held, he knelt down and looked. Through the muslin of the curtain the human forms appeared indistinct, like the silhouettes of a badly-focused magic-lantern. According to the position he was in, and his distance from the light, each of the three men assembled appeared either like a giant or a dwarf. One of them had risen from his seat, and was walking to and fro. According as he approached or went away from the window, a voice, distinct or indistinct, reached Laforêt’s ears. The latter, without turning round, drew Baudoin nearer, and whispered in his ear—
“It is difficult to see, but you may hear. Come a little nearer and listen.”
Baudoin obeyed, and listened attentively in the effort to discover the object of his keen curiosity. It was not the man who was walking to and fro whose voice could now be heard. It was rather the voice of some one seated near a table, who appeared to be examining some papers. Difficult as it was to find any meaning in what was said, all the same certain expressions reached them, “No use using violence—nothing would result. Alarm the workmen. Excite the attention of the authorities.” All the same, it was easy to understand that he was not of the same mind as the man on his feet, who appeared to be pacing to and fro with downcast head, as though impatiently submitting to opposition. Suddenly the walker stopped, and in harsh tones said—
“It shall be as I wish!”
The other replied, though, on account of the distance, only a few broken phrases reached the listeners.
“General interest; unfavourable opinions.”