I made haste, of course, to question him, and from his disconnected and broken sentences, full of unnecessary parentheses, I succeeded in learning that at seven o'clock that morning an official of the province had 'all of a sudden' called on him.
"_Pardon, j'ai oublie son nom.

Il n'est pas du pays,_ but I think he came to the town with Lembke, _quelque chose de bete et d'Allemand dans la physionomie.

Il s'appelle Rosenthal._" "Wasn't it Blum ?" "Yes, that was his name.

_Vous le connaissez?
Quelque chose d'hebete et de tres content dans la figure, pourtant tres severe, roide et serieux._ A type of the police, of the submissive subordinates, _je m'y connais._ I was still asleep, and, would you believe it, he asked to have a look at my books and manuscripts! _Oui, je m'en souviens, il a employe ce mot._ He did not arrest me, but only the books.

_Il se tenait a distance,_ and when he began to explain his visit he looked as though I...