Sans-Cravate hesitated a moment; then, having made up his mind what to do, he said:
"I mean to find out where she's going—to follow her. Are you coming with me?"
"To be sure! As if I would desert a friend! Besides, I don't feel like working to-day. Forward, guide left, march!"
The two messengers followed the boulevard in the direction taken by Bastringuette; they walked very fast, one looking to the right, the other to the left, but they did not see the person they desired to follow.
"Where the devil can she have gone?" said Sans-Cravate.
"It's very strange," rejoined Jean Ficelle, "unless she turned off the boulevard. Here we are at Porte Saint-Denis."
"Let's go on," said Sans-Cravate. "Bastringuette has a cousin who lives Rue Barbette way; perhaps she's gone to see her."
"In the Marais; ah! she has a cousin who lives in the Marais? How that fits in!"
"What's that? what do you mean?"