'He can't swim,' said Hortense, without looking up; 'he—he is lame.'
'Nom de Dieu!' The boatman dropped his hands. Hortense looked up quickly. Do you read the pantomime?
'Never mind,' added the man at last, 'it will serve as a sign.'
'Mais oui. And besides that, he will ask to be taken to the Maison Bernier, the house with its back to the water, on the extension of the great quay. Tenez, you can almost see it from here.'
'I know the place,' said the boatman, and was silent, as if asking and answering himself a question.
Hortense was about to interrupt the train of thought which she apprehended he was following, when he forestalled her.
'How am I to be sure of my affair?' asked he.
'Of your reward? I've thought of that. This watch is a pledge of what I shall be able and glad to give you afterward. There are two thousand francs' worth of pearls in the case.'
'Il faut fixer la somme,' said the man, leaving the watch untouched.
'That lies with you.'