He told me that he took that for granted.

Then telling me that he wished me to draw up a _precis_ of my intended course, he took out a note for five hundred francs, which he handed to me for my time.

I refused to take it, though it cost me a struggle to do so, for I thought that I should make more out of him later on.

But he insisted on my taking it, saying that he would see me again soon, and that Catenac would communicate with me.

He left me less interested in the search than in who this old man could possibly be." Tantaine felt that Perpignan was telling the truth.
"Did you not try and find out that ?" asked he.
Perpignan hesitated; but feeling convinced that there was no loophole for escape, he answered, "Hardly had my visitor left than, slipping on a cap and a workman's blouse, I followed him in his track, and saw him enter one of the finest houses in the Rue de Varennes." "He lived there then ?" "He did, and he was a very well-known man--the Duke de Champdoce." "Yes, I know all that," answered Tantaine, placidly, "but I can't, for the life of me, imagine the connection between the Duke and Caroline Schimmel." Perpignan raised his eyebrows.
"Why did you put a man to watch her ?" asked Tantaine.
"My reasons for doing so were most simple.