“It is very strange,” said the little man, glancing at the concierge; “everybody knows my house!—And is it your purpose to buy it?”
“Why, to be sure, if the price suits us.”
“In that case, I will show you around myself.”
“What an original creature!” whispered Adeline to her husband; “I will bet that it is some old money-lender, who went into retirement here, and can’t resist the desire to do business in the capital again.”
They went over the house from the ground floor to the attic; the little man spared them nothing, and Edouard, who was very glad to see his former home once more, listened patiently to all the details which the old fellow gave them concerning the advantages of his abode.
From time to time, our young man glanced at his wife and smiled.
“Yes,” he said as he entered each room, “I recognize this room, this closet, these wardrobes.”
Thereupon the old gentleman would glance at his servant and smile in his turn: they seemed to understand each other.
“So you used to live here, did you, monsieur?” the master of the house asked him.
“Yes, monsieur, yes, I passed a large part of my youth here.”