Rupert got to his feet and, speaking amiably, said, ‘Monsieur Barnier, what a surprise to see you here. How do you do?’

‘None the better for seeing you, Chalfont!’

‘Did you know I was staying here,’ enquired Rupert, ‘or is our meeting here pure coincidence?’

‘I heard you were here,’ replied Simon, ‘and I came to find out why.’

‘I wonder whom you heard it from?’ He paused to allow Simon to answer, but as no answer was forthcoming, he went on, ‘And why I have come, of course, is no business of yours.’

‘It is if it has anything to do with Mademoiselle Hélène St Clair, my fiancée.’

‘Your fiancée!’ echoed Rupert. ‘Allow me to congratulate you. When will you be married?’

‘The date will be set very soon,’ answered Simon, ‘if that is any business of yours.’

‘That is surprising news,’ responded Rupert. ‘I had heard that Miss Hélène was away at present.’

‘Indeed! And who told you that?’

‘Probably the same person who told you that I was staying here,’ replied Rupert smoothly. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, much as I’d like to chat some more about mutual friends, I have business to attend to, which as I mentioned before has nothing to do with you. I’ll bid you good day, monsieur.’

Simon remained in the doorway, barring Rupert’s path, but as Rupert simply walked towards him he gave way, allowing him to leave the room.

‘You haven’t heard the last of this, Chalfont,’ Simon snarled as he passed. ‘You had your chance, but now she’s mine. You’re a married man and you’re in no position to approach her. You sully her reputation by even thinking of speaking to her. I should have known yesterday when I saw that old bag of a housekeeper coming to Paris that she was up to something. Coming to a funeral indeed! What Hélène’s parents will say when I tell them that Madame Sauze has known where their daughter has been all this time, I can’t imagine. Out on the street if she were my housekeeper.’

Rupert made no reply until he reached the foot of the stairs, when he turned back, smiling enigmatically. ‘How fortunate that she isn’t,’ he said.

When he came downstairs again ready to go and meet Annette in the market, Parker was waiting for him in the hall.

‘Just thought you’d like to know, sir, that I saw the man who just left speak to a young man outside. A young man with red hair, which he keeps covered with an old cap. Not a gentleman, dressed in corduroy trousers and a sackcloth jacket. He slipped away to the stable yard, and your gentleman returned to the fiacre he’d arrived in and drove off. The other man is still in the yard.’

‘Good work, Parker. I imagine he’s been left as a tail. We’d better use the trick we used in Padua.’

‘Right-ho, sir. Just give me the word when to start.’

‘Oh, I think we might as well get on with it, but don’t forget there might be two watching us, so keep your eyes peeled. If you think it’s clear, meet me at St Eustache church as soon as you’re sure you’re not being followed.’