But for the moment the landlord of the miserable apartment was over-willing to make no fuss and ask no questions, for the sake of the money which this aristo in disguise dispensed with a lavish hand.
Having taken possession of his new quarters and snatched a few hours of sound, well-deserved rest, until the time when the shades of evening and the darkness of the streets would make progress through the city somewhat more safe, Blakeney sallied forth at about six o'clock having a threefold object in view.
Primarily, of course, the threefold object was concentrated on Armand.
There was the possibility of finding out at the young man's lodgings in Montmartre what had become of him; then there were the usual inquiries that could be made from the registers of the various prisons; and, thirdly, there was the chance that Armand had succeeded in sending some kind of message to Blakeney's former lodgings in the Rue St.Germain l'Auxerrois.
On the whole, Sir Percy decided to leave the prison registers alone for the present.

If Armand had been actually arrested, he would almost certainly be confined in the Chatelet prison, where he would be closer to hand for all the interrogatories to which, no doubt, he would be subjected.
Blakeney set his teeth and murmured a good, sound, British oath when he thought of those interrogatories.

Armand St.Just, highly strung, a dreamer and a bundle of nerves--how he would suffer under the mental rack of questions and cross-questions, cleverly-laid traps to catch information from him unawares! His next objective, then, was Armand's former lodging, and from six o'clock until close upon eight Sir Percy haunted the slopes of Montmartre, and more especially the neighbourhood of the Rue de la Croix Blanche, where Armand had lodged these former days.

At the house itself he could not inquire as yet; obviously it would not have been safe; tomorrow, perhaps, when he knew more, but not tonight.

His keen eyes had already spied at least two figures clothed in the rags of out-of-work labourers like himself, who had hung with suspicious persistence in this same neighbourhood, and who during the two hours that he had been in observation had never strayed out of sight of the house in the Rue de la Croix Blanche.
That these were two spies on the watch was, of course, obvious; but whether they were on the watch for St.Just or for some other unfortunate wretch it was at this stage impossible to conjecture.
Then, as from the Tour des Dames close by the clock solemnly struck the hour of eight, and Blakeney prepared to wend his way back to another part of the city, he suddenly saw Armand walking slowly up the street.
The young man did not look either to right or left; he held his head forward on his chest, and his hands were hidden underneath his cloak.
When he passed immediately under one of the street lamps Blakeney caught sight of his face; it was pale and drawn.