Still this did not explain
everything, and to understand how Alexandre had procured his mother's
actual address, Mathieu had to presume that he had secured it from La
Couteau, whom Celeste had acquainted with so many things. Indeed, he
learnt at Broquette's nurse-agency that a short, thickset young man with
pronounced jaw-bones had come there twice to speak to La Couteau.
Nevertheless, many points remained unexplained; the whole affair had
taken place amid the tragic, murky gloom of Parisian low life, whose mire
it is not healthy to stir. Mathieu ended by resting content with a
general notion of the business, for he himself felt frightened at the
charges already hanging over those two young bandits, who lived so
precariously, dragging their idleness and their vices over the pavement
of the great city. And thus all his researches had resulted in but one
consoling certainty, which was that even if Norine the mother was known,
the father's name and position were certainly not suspected by anybody.
When Mathieu saw Norine again on the subject he terrified her by the few
particulars which he was obliged to give her.
"Oh! I beg you, I beg you, do not let him come again," she pleaded.
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