ly buying were piled up in vast
heaps. There was no fixed place for his bed even. He slept where he
could, or, rather, wherever an accidental sale had cleared a space for
the time,--one night in a costly bed of the days of Louis XIV., and the
next night on a lounge that he would have sold for a few francs. Just
now he occupied a little closet not more than three-quarters full; and
here he asked the concierge to enter.

He poured some brandy into two small wineglasses, put a teakettle on the
fire, and sank into an arm-chair; then he said,--

"Well, M. Chevassat, what a terrible thing this is!"

His visitor had been well drilled by his wife, and said neither yes nor
no; but the old merchant was a man of experience, and knew how to loosen
his tongue.

"The most disagreeable thing about it," he said with an absent air, "is,
that the doctor will report the matter to the police, and there will be
an investigation."

Master Chevassat nearly dropped his glass.

"What? The police in the house? Well, good-by, then, to our lodgers; we
are lost. Why did that stupid girl want to die, I wonder! But no doubt
you are mistaken, my dear sir."

"No, I am not. But you go too fast. They will simply ask you who that
girl is, how she supports herself, and where she lived before she came
here."

"That is exactly what I cannot tell."

The dealer in old clothes seemed to be amazed; he frowned and said,--

"Halloo! that makes matters worse. How came it about that Miss Henrietta
had rooms in your house?"

The concierge was evidently ill at ease; something was troubling him
sorely.

"Oh! that is as clear as sunlight," he replied; "and, if you wish it,
I'll tell you the story; you will see there is no harm done."

"Well, let us hear."

"Well, then, it was about a year ago this very day, when a gentleman
came in, well dressed, an eyeglass stuck in his eye, impudent like a
hangman's assistant, in fact a thoroughly fashionable young man. He said
he had seen the notice that there was a room for rent up stairs, and
wanted to see it. Of course I told him it was a wretched garret, unfit
for people like him; but he insisted, and _I_ took him up."

"To the room in which Miss Henrietta is now staying?"

"Exactly. I thought he would be disgusted; but no. He looked out of the
window, tried the door if it would shut, examined the partition-wall,
and at last he said, 'This suits me; I take the room.' And thereupon he
hands me a twenty-franc p