"Your master is out."
"That is what I have told him, madame."
"Well, is not the gentleman going?"
"No, madame, he says that he urgently needs to speak to Monsieur Victor Hugo, and that he will wait for him."
Isidore had stopped on the threshold of the bedroom. While he spoke a fat, fresh-looking man in an overcoat, under which could be seen a black coat, appeared at the door behind him.
Madame Victor Hugo noticed this man, who was silently listening.
"Is it you, sir, who wish to speak to Monsieur Victor Hugo?"
"Yes, madame."
"But what is it about? Is it regarding politics?"
The man did not answer.