He imagined that the couple would not leave before nightfall, and that he would not hear from her until the next day. Sure, she could call him, but he knew she would only do so in an extreme emergency. He checked his watch. It was nearly three o'clock. He took his jacket and left the house, shouting to his son:

" I go out.

The shop of Hubert Cléron, taxidermist-entomologist, was still there, rue du Bac, ten numbers from Deyrolle.

He was accompanied by the chime he had always known as he entered the taxidermy lair. The store was a mindless, silent menagerie. Pike rubbed shoulders with cheetahs, goats, an...