“'Ten years, my boy, and I have four children, remarkable youngsters; but you'll see them and their mother.'
“We were talking rather loud; the people around us looked at us in surprise.
“Suddenly my friend looked at his watch, a chronometer the size of a pumpkin, and he cried:
“'Thunder! I'm sorry, but I'll have to leave you; I am never free at night.'
“He rose, took both my hands, shook them as though he were trying to wrench my arms from their sockets, and exclaimed:
“'So long, then; till to-morrow noon!'
“'So long!'
“I spent the morning working in the office of the collector-general of the Department. The chief wished me to stay to luncheon, but I told him that I had an engagement with a friend. As he had to go out, he accompanied me.
“I asked him:
“'Can you tell me how I can find the Rue du Coq-qui-Chante?'