"
But his joy was short-lived, for M. Wilkie proposed that the whole
party should go and take supper. M. de Coralth demurred to the
idea, but the others over-ruled his objections, and dragged him
away with them.
XIX.
"Ah! this is a bad job!" growled Chupin. "Go, go, and never
stop!"
What exasperated him even more than his want of sleep was the
thought that his good mother must be waiting for him at home in an
agony of anxiety; for since his reformation he had become
remarkably regular in his habits. What should he do? "Go home,"
said Reason; "it will be easy enough to find this Wilkie again.
There can be little doubt that he lives at No. 48, in the Rue du
Helder." "Remain," whispered Avarice; "and, since you have
accomplished so much, finish your work. M. Fortunat won't pay for
conjectures, but for a certainty."
Love of money carried the day; so, weaving an interminable chaplet
of oaths, he followed the party until they entered Brebant's
restaurant, one of the best known establishments which remain open
at night-time. It was nearly two o'clock in the morning now; the
boulevard was silent and deserted, and yet this restaurant was
brilliantly lighted from top to bottom, and snatches of song and
shouts of laughter, with the clatter of knives and forks and the
clink of glasses, could be heard through the half opened windows.
"Eight dozen Marennes for No. 6," shouted a waiter to the man who
opened oysters near the restaurant door.
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