"Will you permit me to look at it?" Valerius asked.
"Willingly, but on condition that you do not touch it; it is precious."
Valerius took the box, and approaching the front of the shop, looked at the button and the piece of cloth.
"It is a button marked 'A.P.,' as you see, and we know that you use these buttons."
"I do not deny it; they are good buttons, and I give only good things to my customers."
Returning the box to the agent, he took a large book and began to turn over the leaves; pieces of cloth were pasted on the pages, and at the side were several lines of large handwriting. Arriving at a page where was a piece of blue cloth, he took the box and compared this piece with that of the button, examining it by daylight.
"Sir," he said, "I am going to tell you some very serious things."
"I am listening."
"We hold the assassin of the Rue Sainte-Anne, and it is I who will give you the means of discovering him."
"You have made trousers of this cloth?"