“Yes.”
“That is the rear entrance of a restaurant, a café, where there are private rooms—one of those assignation houses, you know.”
“I understand you.”
“If you go in this way, you are not seen, for you don’t go into the café at all. You go right upstairs; a bell calls a waiter, who opens a private room for you. Oh! it’s very convenient. I used to go there often.”
“Well?”
“Well! your wife goes there to meet her lover.”
“Oh! I recognized her perfectly, although she generally comes in a cab and gets out a few steps away. She is always hidden by a broad-brimmed hat and wrapped in a shawl; but first of all I noticed her manner; I watched her. It amuses me to watch the lovers who go there. I haven’t anything to do, and it serves to pass the time! Yes, I am sure that it’s she. She hasn’t been there once only, but at least ten times.”
“What time does she come?”
“Usually it is only quarter-past, or half-past seven when she arrives, and she stays about an hour.”