thee' and 'thou'?"

"Why, the dowdy one. She with shabby dress and shoes as big as a gouty
man's. You should have seen her shake the prim-looking girl, as if she
had been a plum tree. 'You little fool!' said she, 'do you want to ruin
us? You will have time to faint when we get home; now come along. And
then she began to sob: 'Indeed, madame, indeed I can't!' she said, and
really she seemed quite unable to move: in fact, she appeared to be so
ill that I said to myself: 'Here is a young woman who has drunk more
than is good for her!'"

These facts confirmed even if they corrected Lecoq's first suppositions.
As he had suspected, the social position of the two women was not the
same. He had been mistaken, however, in attributing the higher standing
to the woman wearing the shoes with the high heels, the marks of which
he had so particularly noticed in the snow, with all the attendant signs
of precipitation, terror, and weakness. In reality, social preeminence
belonged to the woman who had left the large, broad footprints behind
her. And not merely was she of a superior rank, but she had also shown
superior energy. Contrary to Lecoq's original idea, it now seemed
evident that she was the mistress, and her companion the servant.

"Is that all, my good fellow?" he asked the driver, who during the last
few minutes had been busy with his horses.

"Yes," replied the cabman, "except that I noticed that the shabbily
dressed woman who paid me had a hand as small as a child's, and in spite
of her anger, her voice was as sweet as music."

"Did you see her face?"

"I just caught a glimpse of it."

"Could you tell if she were pretty, or whether she was a blonde or
brunette?"

So many questions at a time confused the driver. "Stop a minute!" he
replied. "In my opinion she wasn't pretty, and I don't believe she was
young, but she certainly was a blonde, and with plenty of hair too."

"Was she tall or short, stout or slender?"

"Between the two."

This was very vague. "And the other," asked Lecoq, "the neatly dressed
one?"

"The deuce! As for her, I did not notice her at all; all I know about
her is that she was very small."

"Would you recognize her if you met her again?"

"Good heavens! no."

The vehicle was now rolling along the Rue de Bourgogne. Half-way down
the street the driver pulled up, and, turning to Lecoq, exclaimed: "Here
we are. That's the house the hussies went into."

To draw off the silk handkerchief t