hey found in it a very decent and
respectable gentleman in black, with a jet-hilted sword by his side, and
a certain portion of not very uncorrupt English. The whole party jogged
on pleasantly up the steep ascent, and round the fine old palace, to a
small inn which was indicated to the driver by the gentleman in black,
for whom that driver seemed to entertain a profound reverence. When
comfortably fixed in the inn, Marlow left his two English companions,
and proceeded, as it was the hour of promenade, to take a walk upon the
terrace with his friend in black. They passed a great number of groups,
and a great number of single figures, and Marlow might have remarked, if
he had been so disposed, that several of the persons whom they met
seemed to eye his companion with a suspicious and somewhat anxious
glance. All Marlow's powers of observation, however, were directed in a
different way. He examined every face that he saw, every group that he
came near; but at length, as they passed a somewhat gayly dressed woman
of the middle age, who was walking alone, the young Englishman touched
the arm of the man in black, saying, "According to the description I
have had of her, that must be very like the person."

"We will follow her, and see," said the man in black.

Without appearing to notice her particularly, they kept near the lady
who had attracted their attention, as long as she continued to walk upon
the terrace, and then followed her when she left it, through several
streets which led away in the direction of the forest. At length she
stopped at a small house, opened the door, and went in.

The man in black took out a little book from his pocket, closely written
with long lists of names.

"Monsieur et Madame Jervis," he said, after having turned over several
pages. "Here since three years ago."

"That cannot be she, then," answered Marlow.

"Stay, stay," said his companion, "that is _au premier_. On the second
floor lodges Monsieur Drummond. Old man of sixty-eight. He has been here
two years; and above Madame Dupont, an old French lady whom I know quite
well. You must be mistaken, Monsieur, but we will go into this
_charcutier's_ just opposite, and inquire whether that is Madame Jervis
who went in."

It proved to be so. The pork butcher had seen her as she passed the
window, and Marlow's search had to begin again. When he and his
companion returned to their inn, however, the man whom he had brought up
from the country