“Because I know that you leave it every night at nine o’clock.”
“The head clerk gave me some errands to do, uncle; that is what made me so late.”
“Errands! I know how you do errands! I’ve been hearing about you, young scoundrel that you are!”
“In the first place, uncle, I am not a scoundrel.”
“Your head clerk told me that the day before yesterday morning, while they were waiting for a very urgent paper that they’d sent you to have signed, he found you sitting coolly under Pont des Arts, fishing.”
“Me, uncle, me! My word, what a lie!”
“He has the face to deny it, when I have proofs of the fact!”
“Proofs? what proofs?”
“Look, Monsieur Friquet, here’s a package of hooks that I found in your coat pocket. Well! what do you say to that?”