"
"Why, how could you know that?" exclaimed the worthy man, greatly
astonished.
"Ah! I was sure of it! Who did he speak to?"
"To a very pretty woman, upon my word!--fair and plump as a partridge!"
"Ah! fate is against us!" exclaimed Lecoq with an oath. "I run on in
advance to Madame Milner's house, so that May shan't see her. I invent
an excuse to send her out of the hotel, and yet they meet each other."
Father Absinthe gave a despairing gesture. "Ah! if I had known!" he
murmured; "but you did not tell me to prevent May from speaking to the
passers-by."
"Never mind, my old friend," said Lecoq, consolingly; "it couldn't have
been helped."
While this conversation was going on, the fugitive had reached the
Faubourg Montmartre, and his pursuers were obliged to hasten forward and
get closer to their man, so that they might not lose him in the crowd.
"Now," resumed Lecoq when they had overtaken him, "give me the
particulars. Where did they meet?"
"In the Rue Saint-Quentin."
"Which saw the other first?"
"May."
"What did the woman say? Did you hear any cry of surprise?"
"I heard nothing, for I was quite fifty yards off; but by the woman's
manner I could see she was stupefied."
Ah! if Lecoq could have witnessed the scene, what valuable deductions he
might have drawn from it. "Did they talk for a long time?" he asked.
"For less than a quarter of an hour."
"Do you know whether Madame Milner gave May money or not?"
"I can't say.
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