But Moncharmin replied. “No, Richard, no! You walk ahead and I’ll walk immediately behind you! I won’t leave you by a step!”

“But, in that case,” exclaimed Richard, “they will never steal our twenty-thousand francs!”

“I should hope not, indeed!” declared Moncharmin.

“Then what we are doing is absurd!”

“We are doing exactly what we did last time.⁠ ⁠… Last time, I joined you as you were leaving the stage and followed close behind you down this passage.”

“That’s true!” sighed Richard, shaking his head and passively obeying Moncharmin.

Two minutes later, the joint managers locked themselves into their office. Moncharmin himself put the key in his pocket:

“We remained locked up like this, last time,” he said, “until you left the Opera to go home.”