“Precisely,” answered Marius, and he added: “Are you acquainted with that house?”

The inspector remained silent for a moment, then replied, as he warmed the heel of his boot at the door of the stove:⁠—

“Apparently.”

He went on, muttering between his teeth, and not addressing Marius so much as his cravat:⁠—

“Patron-Minette must have had a hand in this.”

This word struck Marius.

“Patron-Minette,” said he, “I did hear that word pronounced, in fact.”

And he repeated to the inspector the dialogue between the long-haired man and the bearded man in the snow behind the wall of the Rue du Petit-Banquier.

The inspector muttered:⁠—