On the sign he rose,
paid for his drink, bowed, and went out. I should not myself have
attached any importance to the circumstance, if it had not been
recalled to my mind, some months later, by the reappearance of the
man with the beard at one of the most tragic moments of this case.
I then learned that the youth was one of Larsan's assistants and had
been charged by him to watch the going and coming of travellers at
the station of Epinay-sur-Orge. Larsan neglected nothing in any
case on which he was engaged.
I turned my eyes again on Rouletabille.
"Ah,--Monsieur Fred!" he said, "when did you begin to use a
walking-stick? I have always seen you walking with your hands in
your pockets!"
"It is a present," replied the detective.
"Recent?" insisted Rouletabille.
"No, it was given to me in London."
"Ah, yes, I remember--you have just come from London. May I look
at it?"
"Oh!--certainly!"
Fred passed the cane to Rouletabille. It was a large yellow bamboo
with a crutch handle and ornamented with a gold ring. Rouletabille,
after examining it minutely, returned it to Larsan, with a bantering
expression on his face, saying:
"You were given a French cane in London!"
"Possibly," said Fred, imperturbably.
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