“But the dress?”
“What dress?”
“The Dubarry’s! Good God! You did not forget about the dress?”
“No,” replied Monpavon. “I did not forget about the dress. The next time you see that dress will be on a mermaid in the Morgue. It is now in the Seine. What’s more, it is in a sack, which also encloses a few stones.”
“Thanks, Monpavon. I will tell Choiseul.” He hurried away, attracted by another new-comer. This time it was Monsieur d’Estouteville, an exquisite, who seemed to have no bones, so indolently did he carry himself.
“The coiffeur?” asked Coigny, in a low voice, as he ranged alongside of this person. “What have you done with him?”
“He is safe,” replied d’Estouteville.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“But, heavens! Did you not undertake to have him guarded? Yet you do not know where he is?”