u may make a few preliminary inquiries. It will
be on Sunday that you will go to the hospital together, and make the
same inquires which the Duke formerly made by himself. The lady superior
is a woman of excellent taste and education, and she will do all that
she can to be useful to you. Through her you will be able to obtain
the boy's description, and the date on which he left the hospital to
be apprenticed to a tanner. She will tell you that, disliking the
employment, he ran away from them at the age of twelve and a half years,
and that since then no trace of him has been found. You will hear from
her that he was a tall, well-built lad, looking two years older than he
really was, with an intelligent cast of feature, and keen, bright
eyes, full of health and good looks. He had on, on the day of his
disappearance, blue and white striped trousers, a gray blouse, a cap
with no peak, and a spotted silk cravat. Then to assist you still
further in your researches she will add that he carried in a bundle,
enveloped in a red plaid cotton handkerchief, a white blouse, a pair of
gray cloth trousers, and a pair of new shoes."

Catenac watched Mascarin as he was speaking with an expression of
ill-concealed enmity.

"You are well informed, on my word," muttered he.

"I think I am," returned Mascarin. "After this you will go back to the
hotel, and not until then--do you understand?--and you will consult as
to the first steps to be taken. The plan proposed by Perpignan is an
excellent one."

"What! you know it then?"

"Of course I do. He proposed to divide Vendome and its suburbs into a
certain number of circles, and to make a house-to-house visitation in
each of them. Let him go to work in this manner. Of course, to do so,
you will require a guide."

"Of course we should require such a person."

"Here, Catenac, I must leave a little to chance, for I am not quite
omnipotent. But there are nine chances out of ten that your host will
advise you to avail yourself of the services of a man called Frejot,
who acts as commissioner to the hotel. It may be, however, that he may
designate some one else; but in that case you must, by some means or
other, manage to employ the services of one other man."

"What am I to say to him?"

"He understands what he is to do completely. Well, these preliminaries
being settled, you will commence on Monday morning to search the
suburb called Areines, under the guidance of Frejot. Leave all the
re