"Oh! you need have no fears, sir. We shall not publish your name. This isn't the first time that winners have requested us not to give their names, and we have always complied with such requests, although, by doing so, we miss an excellent advertisement for our lottery. You need not, therefore, object to giving us your name and address. They will be recorded upon our books, but no one will be allowed to see them." "That is all I ask. My name is Adhémar de Puymirol. I am a medical student, and I reside at No. 14 Rue de Medicis." "Very well, sir, we will make a note of it. I forgot to mention that you would be obliged to give this information, in any case, for no winner can draw a penny of his money without giving a receipt to which his address must be appended." "I fancied that it would only be necessary to present the ticket at your office so as to obtain the money, but I am ready and willing to give a receipt for it." The gentleman took no notice of this hint. He seemed to have become suddenly absorbed in the examination of some papers; however, the person whom Adhémar had taken for a secretary, looked up, and, with his eyes fixed searchingly on the applicant's face, he curtly asked: "How old are you?" "What difference can my age possibly make? I have attained my majority, as you see, and that is all that is necessary to make my receipt perfectly valid." "Where were you born?" "What business is that of yours?" replied Adhémar, exasperated by these strange questions. "You refuse to answer, then?" "Yes, certainly. I came here to draw the money due to me. I don't intend to be cross examined like some criminal." "Be careful, I am a commissary of police." Puymirol turned pale. He realised, at last, that he had plunged blindly into a frightful abyss, and that his imprudence was about to cost him dear. He was resolved to defend himself to the last, however. "I was not aware that the managers of this popular lottery required the assistance of police officials in the performance of their duties," he retorted. "This precaution will hardly favour the sale of tickets, should it become known to the public, and I will take good care to inform people about it." "You are speaking to a magistrate, remember. Tell me where, and when, you purchased this ticket?" "At a tobacconist's, probably." "What tobacconist's?" "The deuce take me if I can remember. I purchased between twenty and thirty tickets, and in a dozen different places. They are all here on the table." "Yes, I see you have brought them all. It is strange that the idea of detaching the winning ticket did not occur to you. One can not think of everything, however." "I brought the package exactly as I took it from my pocket-book." "Have you that pocket-book about you?" "No," stammered Puymirol, disconcerted by this question, which he might have foreseen, however. "I left it at home."