Albert's two companions thereupon looked into the street, and Célestin, after glancing at a carriage which was passing, replied: "Yes, that is she." "Was she alone?" "I think not; I thought that I caught a glimpse of a moustache beside her face." Albert's face became clouded; he looked after the _citadine_, which was already some distance away, then stopped and seemed to hesitate as to what he should do next. "Well! what's the matter with you?" said Célestin, looking at his friend as if he would have liked to read his inmost thoughts; "do you think of following that carriage?" Albert tried to smile, as he replied: "The fact is that I am curious to know---- This Madame Baldimer is a great flirt, but she has no lover, so far as anyone knows; she allows everybody to pay court to her, and seems inclined to make sport of her adorers." "Why is anyone foolish enough to pay court to her?" "Why, because she is lovely." "There's no lack of lovely women in Paris." "Nor in the suburbs," said Tobie. "I knew one at Nanterre. Such a love of a woman!" "Did she sell cakes?" "Ah! you joker! cakes! She was a woman of very high position." "Did she live on a hill?" "She had a villa, monsieur, a magnificent villa." "At Nanterre? That is strange; I never happened to see any fine houses there." "It wasn't just at Nanterre, but in the neighborhood." Albert Vermoncey was lost in thought; he walked very slowly, and turned his head from time to time to see if he could still see the carriage. Monsieur Célestin, who, without seeming to do so, closely watched his companion's movements, said, after a moment, dwelling significantly upon his words: "A carriage is a very convenient thing, especially in Paris, where you can always be certain of finding one with blinds. If you have a secret errand to do, if you don't know where to meet your lover for a little chat--why, you step into a _citadine_, you join the person in question at the appointed place, she enters with you, you close the windows and lower the blinds; and then--go where you choose, driver, you are hired by the hour!--Drive through the most crowded streets of Paris, pass as close as you please to a husband, or a rival--he will see nothing. Sometimes, indeed, he will be the first to smile when he sees a hermetically closed carriage, and will say: 'That probably conceals some intrigue.'--Oh, yes! a carriage is a great convenience, I say again." "It is, and it is not," said young Tobie, affecting a cunning expression; "because---- Still, if all the streets in Paris were paved with wood, it would be all right." "Madame Baldimer did not hide," said Albert; "the blinds of her carriage were not lowered." "Perhaps they are now," murmured Célestin. Albert clenched his hands as if he had had a spasm of pain.