George bowed, and passed out. They went first to the police office to
pick up three officers in plain clothes who were awaiting them, for
George had given notice during the day that the surprise would take
place that evening. One of the men got on the box beside the driver. The
other two entered the cab, which reached the Rue des Martyrs. Du Roy
said: "I have a plan of the rooms. They are on the second floor. We
shall first find a little ante-room, then a dining-room, then the
bedroom. The three rooms open into one another. There is no way out to
facilitate flight. There is a locksmith a little further on. He is
holding himself in readiness to be called upon by you."
When they arrived opposite the house it was only a quarter past eight,
and they waited in silence for more than twenty minutes. But when he
saw the three quarters about to strike, George said: "Let us start now."
They went up the stairs without troubling themselves about the
doorkeeper, who, indeed, did not notice them. One of the officers
remained in the street to keep watch on the front door. The four men
stopped at the second floor, and George put his ear to the door and then
looked through the keyhole. He neither heard nor saw anything. He rang
the bell.
The commissary said to the officers: "You will remain in readiness till
called on."
And they waited. At the end of two or three minutes George again pulled
the bell several times in succession. They noted a noise from the
further end of the rooms, and then a slight step approached. Someone was
coming to spy who was there. The journalist then rapped smartly on the
panel of the door. A voice, a woman's voice, that an attempt was
evidently being made to disguise asked: "Who is there?"