"He had under his hand the papers," looking at them a little askance as if he doubted whether the explanation would pass, "that we need! The papers that would convict Basterga.

And because they did not wear the appearance he expected--because they were disguised, you understand--they were in a bottle in fact--and were not precisely what he expected----" "He left them ?" "He left them." There was something like a tear, a leaden drop, in the corner of the Fourth Syndic's eye.
"Still if he had access to them once," Petitot suggested briskly, "what has been done once may be done twice.

He may gain access to them again.
Why not ?" "He may, but he may not.

Still, I should have thought of that and--and made allowance," Blondel answered with a fair show of candour.

"But too often an occasion let slip does not return, as you well know.