"Not for a minute—until I went upstairs to bed."
"Is your eyesight good?"
"Mijnheer?" questioned Gudule, not having heard aright.
"I asked you if you had good eyes," repeated M. Tricamp.
"Oh! I can see all right, even if I am a little bit hard of hearing. And I have a good memory, too—"
"So you have a good memory, eh? Then tell me who called here to-day."
"Oh, there was the postman—and a neighbor who called to borrow a pie-plate—and Petersen who came to ask something of Christina."
"Indeed! And who is this Petersen?"
"A neighbor, Mijnheer; a night-watchman; my master knows him well."
"Yes," said Balthazar, addressing the sergeant, "he is the poor devil who lost his wife a month ago, and his two little children are both sick. We help the poor fellow from time to time."
"And this Petersen was in the house to-day?"
"No, Mijnheer," replied Gudule; "he only spoke to Christina from the sidewalk."
"And what did he tell her?"
"I did not hear, Mijnheer."
"And did no one else call after him?"
Gudule asked him to repeat the question, then she replied:
