Together they went down the iron fire escape at the back of the hotel and Parker waited for a moment in the kitchen yard, watching as Rupert set out, taking the narrow streets that led to the river. Parker lounged along behind him but could see no one paying any attention to him, and when Rupert finally waited before crossing the river, Parker was able to assure him that he had no tail.

As Rupert and Parker left the hotel from the kitchen yard, red-headed André hurried away from the Hotel Montreux to report his day’s work to Simon Barnier. André had managed to follow the Englishman unobserved this morning, first to the St Eustache market and then through the streets to Batignolles. He had seen him enter an apartment building, but dared not follow to see which apartment he visited. For a long time he waited, concealed in the tiny alley opposite, ready to follow him when he came out again. Monsieur Barnier would want to know where else he went. When at last his mark did emerge from the building, André, having taken refuge from the cold in a nearby tabac, nearly missed him, but loitering along behind him was relieved when he realised that the Englishman was returning to the hotel. Now he could report all the Englishman’s movements to Monsieur Barnier and collect the promised payment.

When he reached the hotel where Monsieur Barnier lodged, he was told by Eugène that Monsieur was out and was instructed to wait for his return.

It was some hours later that Simon Barnier came back. He had been renewing his acquaintance with Mademoiselle Angélique, and her attentions, costing double the price due to his broken appointment earlier, were so exquisite that he had remained in her care, and that of several of her younger ladies, for the whole afternoon. Could Hélène, even after the training he planned to give her, ever take him to the heights that Mademoiselle Angélique achieved? It would, he decided, be an interesting comparison. As he entered the front door, Eugène told him that André had come back and immediately Simon summoned him to his private parlour.

‘I followed the Englishman this morning,’ André told him. ‘First to the market, where he spoke to some woman working on one of the stalls. Not the one you was looking for, what I followed from Passy.’

Annette? wondered Simon. It would be worth keeping an eye on her in case.

‘Anyhow,’ continued André, ‘he went back to the hotel for a while and then he come out again and went to a street in Batignolles, to an apartment house, with a butcher’s shop. I kept watch till he come out, and followed him back to his hotel. Then I come straight here to tell you.’

‘You should have come as soon as you discovered where he went this morning,’ snapped Simon.

‘You told me to follow him wherever he went,’ replied André sulkily. ‘So I stuck with him, in case he went somewhere else after.’