by two men.  The one was tall and thin, and wore a pair of spectacles with colored glasses, while the other was stout and ruddy, with the unmistakable air of a man of the world about him.  Andre would have given the twenty thousand francs which he still had in his pocket if he could have heard a single word of their conversation.  He was moving skilfully forward so as to place himself within earshot, when not two feet from him he heard a shrill whistle twice repeated.  There was something so strange and curious in the sound of this whistle that Andre looked round and noticed that the three men whom he was watching had been also attracted by it.  The tall man with the colored glasses glanced suspiciously around him, and then after a nod to his companions turned and re-entered the office, while Verminet and the other walked away arm in arm.  Andre was undecided; should he try and discover who these two men were?  Near the entrance he saw a lad selling hot chestnuts.  “Ah!” said he, “the little chestnut seller will always be there; but I may lose the others if I stay here.”  He followed the two men as quickly as possible.  They did not go very far, and speedily entered a fine house in the Rue Montmartre.  Here Andre was for a moment puzzled, as he did not know to whom they were paying a visit, but noticing an inscription on the wall of “Cashier’s Office on the first floor,” he exclaimed,—­

“Ah! it is to the banker’s they have gone!”

He questioned a man coming downstairs and heard that M. Martin Rigal, the banker, had his offices and residence there.

“I have struck a vein of good luck to-day,” thought he; “and now if my little friend the chestnut seller can only tell me the names of these men, I have done a good day’s work.  I do hope that he has not gone.”

The boy was still there, and he had two customers standing by the chafing-dish which contained the glowing charcoal, and a working lad in cap and blouse was arguing so hotly with the lad that they did not notice Andre’s appearance.

“You can stow that chat,” said the boy; “I have told your father the price I would take.  You want my station and stock-in-trade.  Hand over two hundred and fifty francs, and they are yours.”

“But my dad will only give two hundred,” returned the other.

“Then he don’t need give nothing, for he won’t get ’em,” answered the chestnut vender sharply.  “Two hundred francs for a pitch like this!  Why, I have sometimes taken ten francs and more, and that ain’t a lie, on the word of Toto Chupin.”

Andre was tickled with this strange designation, and addressed himself to the lad who bore it.

“My good boy,” said he, “I think you were here an hour ago.  Did you see anything of three gentlemen who came out of the house and stood talking together for a short time?”

The lad turned sharply round and examined his questioner from tip to toe with an air of the most supreme impertinence; and then, in a tone which matched his look, replied,—­