Page:The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter.djvu/220

two days he learned Rodolphe’s abiding place, and called on him there at six in the morning.

Rodolphe was then residing in a lodging house in a deserted street situate in the Faubourg Saint Germain, and was perched on the fifth floor because there was not a sixth. When Colline came to his door there was no key in the lock outside. He knocked for ten minutes without obtaining any answer from within; the din he made at this early hour attracted the attention of even the porter, who came to ask him to be quiet.

“You see very well that the gentleman is asleep,” said he.

“That is why I want to wake him up,” replied Colline, knocking again.

“He does not want to answer then,” replied the porter, placing before Rodolphe’s door a pair of patent leather boots and a pair of lady’s boots that he had just cleaned.

“Wait a bit, though,” observed Colline, examining the masculine and feminine foot-gear. “New patent leathers! I must have made a mistake; it cannot be here.”

“Yes; by the way,” said the porter, “whom do you want?”

“A woman’s boots!” continued Colline, speaking to himself, and thinking of his friend’s austere manners; “yes, certainly I must have made a mistake. This is not Rodolphe’s room.”

“I beg your pardon, sir, it is.”

“You must be making a mistake, my good man.”

“What do you mean?”

“Decidedly you must be making a mistake,” said Colline, pointing to the patent leather boots. “What are those?”

“Those are Monsieur Rodolphe’s boots. What is there to be wondered at in that?”