chamberlain's
key has been placed behind the chamberlain's back; for it is related of
him that he said, with his accustomed good sense, and with a kind of
bitter grief, 'What, the devil! one does not open a door with one's
back, at all events!'"

"Baron, the courier! the courier!" said Murphy, pointing to the clock.

"Sad old reprobate, to make me chatter thus! It is your fault. Present
my respects to his royal highness," said M. de Grauen, taking his hat up
in haste. "And now, adieu till the evening, my dear Murphy."

"Till the evening, my dear baron, fare thee well. It will be late before
we meet, for I am sure that monseigneur will go this very day to pay a
visit to the mysterious house in the Rue du Temple."

CHAPTER XXIII.

A HOUSE IN THE RUE DU TEMPLE.

In order to profit by the particulars furnished by Baron de Grauen
respecting La Goualeuse and Germain, the Schoolmaster's son, it became
necessary for Rodolph to visit the house in the Rue du Temple, formerly
the abode of that young man, whose retreat the prince likewise hoped to
discover through the intervention of Mlle. Rigolette. Although prepared
to find it a difficult task, inasmuch as it was more than probable, if
the grisette were really sufficiently in Germain's confidence to be
aware of his present abode, she also knew too well his anxiety to
conceal it to be likely to give the desired information.

By renting the chamber lately occupied by the young man, Rodolph,
besides being on the spot to follow up his researches, considered he
should also be enabled to observe closely the different individuals
inhabiting the rest of the house.

The same day on which the conversation passed between the Baron de Grauen
and Murphy, Rodolph, plainly and unpretendingly dressed, wended his way
about three o'clock, on a gloomy November afternoon, towards the Rue du
Temple.

Situated in a district of much business and dense population, the house
in question had nothing remarkable in its appearance; it was composed of
a ground floor, occupied by a man keeping a low sort of dram-shop, and
four upper stories, surmounted by attics. A dark and narrow alley led
to a small yard, or, rather, a species of square well, of about five or
six feet in width, completely destitute of either air or light, and
serving as a pestilential receptacle for all the filth thrown by the
various occupants of the respective chambers from the unglazed sashes
with which each landing-pla