Mame Giry took the envelope with the twenty notes inside it and made for the door. She was on the point of going out when the two managers rushed at her:

“Oh, no! Oh, no! We’re not going to be ‘done’ a second time! Once bitten, twice shy!”

“I beg your pardon, gentlemen,” said the old woman, in self-excuse, “you told me to act as though you knew nothing.⁠ ⁠… Well, if you knew nothing, I should go away with your envelope!”

“And then how would you slip it into my pocket?” argued Richard, whom Moncharmin fixed with his left eye, while keeping his right on Mame Giry: a proceeding likely to strain his sight, but Moncharmin was prepared to go to any length to discover the truth.