"My papers!" I answered, almost gnashing my teeth, as I thought how I had been tricked and treated. I saw it all now. "My papers!"
"Well?" he said.
"They are gone! I have been robbed of them!"
"Indeed!" he said drily. "That remains to be proved, Monsieur."
I thought that he meant that I might be mistaken, as I had been mistaken before; and, to make certain, I turned out the pocket.
"No," he said, as drily as before. "I see that they are not there. But the point is, Monsieur, were they ever there?"
I looked at him.
"Yes," he said, "that is the point, Monsieur. Where are your papers?"
"I tell you I have been robbed of them!" I cried, in a rage.
"And I say, that remains to be proved," he answered. "And until it is proved, you do not leave here. That is all, Monsieur, and it is simple."