This decided Fernet. He went and sat beside Minetti without further ado.
“Ah, I was expecting you!” cried the hunchback, genially, as he passed the radishes.
“Expecting me?” returned Fernet. His voice trembled, though he tried to speak boldly.
“Yes. Women are not the only inquisitive animals in the world. What will you have—some wine?”
Fernet allowed Minetti to fill his glass.
Other boarders began to drift in. Minetti turned his back upon Fernet, speaking to a new-comer at his left. He did not say another word all evening.
Fernet ate and drank in silence. “What did I come for and why am I staying?” he kept asking himself. “This man is mocking me. First of all, he greets me as if I were his boon companion, and next he insults me openly and before everybody in the room. Even Berthe has noticed it and is smiling. As a matter of fact, he knows no more than I do about Suvaroff’s death.”
But he continued to sit beside the hunchback all through the meal, and as fruit was put on the table he touched Minetti on the arm and said, “Will you join me in a café royal?”
“Not here ... a little later. I can show you a place where they really know how to make them. And, besides, there are tables for just two. It is much more private.”
Fernet’s heart bounded and sank almost in one leap. “Let us go now, then,” he said, eagerly.