“Ah; I see!” exclaimed Grimaudan, “you want me to pay for the information.”

“No⁠ ⁠… but.⁠ ⁠… I am afraid I will starve to death.”

“So! that is why you hesitate. Well, I’ll not be hard on you. How much do you want?”

“Enough to buy a steerage pass to America.”

“All right.”

“And a hundred francs to keep me until I get work there.”

“You shall have two hundred. Now, speak.”

“Count the paving-stones to the right from the sewer-hole. The pearl is between the twelfth and thirteenth.”

“In the gutter?”

“Yes, close to the sidewalk.”