Four persons set foot on the landing. (A peremptory order from de Naarboveck had caused Wilhelmine to descend.)
Inspector Michel and his colleague stared at the individuals in whose company they found themselves—the young groom and his amazing mother!
With a caricatural gesture of disdain, and an off-handed air, this corpulent personage demanded stridently:
"Who are these gentlemen?"
Inspector Michel looked the outrageous creature up and down.
"Who are you, Madame?... What are you doing here?"
The inspector's tone was severity itself.
Juve, behind his window-curtains, breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ah, Michel has it in hand! That's all right!"
The groom's mother was taken aback—she hesitated; thereupon, Inspector Michel stated his name and rank! On that, the large body of this irrepressible personage made straight for him, caught him familiarly by the neck, and whispered in his ear.