All this was merely deduction, for so far as I had seen, "J.M.'s"
travelling companions hadn't even accosted him. Still, the theory
accounted for much that had been puzzling, and made it plausible that a
man should be desperate enough to trust his treasure to a stranger
(known only through "photos in the newspapers") rather than risk losing
it to those he had betrayed.
I resolved to use all my powers of diplomacy to extract from "J.M." the
case containing the treaty before he learned that he was not to receive
the diamonds in its place; and I had no more than vaguely mapped out a
plan of proceeding before I arrived in the Avenue Morot. Thence I soon
found my way into the Rue de la Fille Sauvage, a mean street, to which
the queer name seemed not inappropriate. The house I had to visit was an
ugly big box of a building, with rooms advertised to let, as I could see
by the light of a street lamp across the way, which gleamed bleakly on
the lines of shut windows behind narrow iron balconies.
The large double doors, from which the paint had peeled in patches, were
closed, but I rang the bell for the concierge; and after a delay of
several minutes I heard a slight click which meant that the doors had
opened for me.
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