At the same moment Arnoux appeared, to have an answer as to whether he had been able to obtain the sum so sorely needed.
"Wait a moment; here it is," said Frederick.
And, twenty-four hours later, he gave this reply to Deslauriers:
"I have no money."
The advocate came back three days, one after the other, and urged Frederick to write to the notary. He even offered to take a trip to Havre in connection with the matter.
At the end of the week, Frederick timidly asked the worthy Arnoux for his fifteen thousand francs. Arnoux put it off till the following day, and then till the day after. Frederick ventured out late at night, fearing lest Deslauriers might come on him by surprise.
One evening, somebody knocked against him at the corner of the Madeleine. It was he.
And Deslauriers accompanied Frederick as far as the door of a house in the Faubourg Poissonnière.
"Wait for me!"
He waited. At last, after three quarters of an hour, Frederick came out, accompanied by Arnoux, and made signs to him to have patience a little longer. The earthenware merchant and his companion went up the Rue de Hauteville arm-in-arm, and then turned down the Rue de Chabrol.