Under the vote, as cold and damp as a cellar, the police commissioner stopped for a moment, looked at the time on his wristwatch and, shaking his overcoat, sent drops of melted snow onto the tiles where they fell. enlarged like on blotting paper. It was five past eleven. When he showed up for the first time, at half past nine, the concierge, still young, almost pretty, who occupied a comfortable lodge, had not let herself be impressed by his title, nor by the politeness he showed her, and responded with a certain annoyance "I suppose you are not coming to arrest this young lady."