"Later, on the banks of the Orfèvre quay, they often recalled this case as perhaps the most characteristic for the Maigret method. Yet the commissioner himself, whenever the topic came up in his presence, somehow invariably turned aside and grumbled something disapprovingly.
"And that’s how the hunt began, one that was to last five days and five nights—through passersby hurrying along the streets of unsuspecting Paris, from bar to bar, from bistro to bistro…"