"It is here, then," he murmured, "that I am to find the solution of the
enigma! Here, behind these embroidered curtains, dwells the frightened
fugitive of the other night. What agony of fear must torture her since
she has discovered the loss of her earring!"
For more than an hour, standing under a neighbor's _porte cochere_,
Lecoq remained watching the house. He would have liked to see the
face of any one; but the time passed by and not even a shadow could
be detected behind the curtain; not even a servant passed across the
courtyard. At last, losing patience, the young detective determined to
make inquiries in the neighborhood, for he could not take a decisive
step without obtaining some knowledge of the people he was to encounter.
While wondering where he could obtain the information he required, he
perceived, on the opposite side of the street, the keeper of a wine-shop
smoking on his doorstep.
At once approaching and pretending that he had forgotten an address,
Lecoq politely asked for the house where Marchioness d'Arlange resided.
Without a word, and without condescending to take his pipe from his
mouth, the man pointed to the mansion which Lecoq had previously
watched.
There was a way, however, to make him more communicative, namely, to
enter the shop, call for something to drink, and invite the landlord to
drink as well. This was what Lecoq did, and the sight of two well-filled
glasses unbound, as by enchantment, the man's hitherto silent tongue.
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