"Did they find anything?"
"No. I always carry the most important notes and formulae on me. Still, you can imagine what would happen if they succeeded. So you do admit, don't you, that I am obliged to be cautious? Write down that I have told you of my investigations and that you have seen what I obtain on the wall in the Yard, at the place covered by a black-serge curtain."
I took a sheet of paper and a pen. But he stopped me quickly:
"No, no," he said, "it's absurd. It wouldn't prevent . . . Besides, you won't talk, I'm sure of that. Forgive me, Victorien. I am so horribly worried!"
"You needn't fear any indiscretion on my part," I declared. "But I must remind you that Bérangère also has seen what there was to see."
"Oh," he said, "she wouldn't understand!"
"She wanted to come with me just now."
"On no account, on no account! She's still a child and not fit to be trusted with a secret of this importance. . . . Now come along."
But it so happened that, as we were leaving the workshop, we both of us at the same time saw Bérangère stealing along one of the walls of the Yard and stopping in front of a black curtain, which she suddenly pulled aside.
"Bérangère!" shouted my uncle, angrily.