"Well, nephew?"
"Well, uncle?"
"I've got some news for you."
"Indeed?"
M. Mouillard banged his hat down furiously upon my table.
"Yes, you know my maxim: when anything does not seem quite clear to me—"
"You ferret it out."
"Quite so; I have always found it answer. Your business did not seem clear to me. Was Mademoiselle Charnot betrothed, or was she not? To what extent had she encouraged your attentions? You never would have told me the story correctly, and I never should have known. That being so, I put my maxim into practice, and went to see her father."
"You did that?"
"Certainly I did."