“No.”
“Then I see only one resource.”
“What is that?”
“Go to see Charnot.”
I felt myself growing pale, and stammered, with a piteous look:
“Monsieur Charnot, of the Acad—”
“The Academy of Inscriptions; an intimate friend of mine, who will welcome you like a son, for he has none himself, poor man!”
“But perhaps the question is hardly important enough for me to trouble him like this—”
“Hey? Not important enough? All new questions are important. Charnot specializes on coins. Coins and costumes are all one. I will write to tell him you are coming.”
“I beg, sir—”