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Dampness and cold were considerably increased by the substitution, for a floor, of two or three planks resting here and there in mud. I am now describing what my eyes saw, not what was shown to the inspectors on their rare visits to the Directeur's little shop for making criminals. I saw this done as I was going to dinner.

While the men were upstairs recovering from la soupe, the gentleman-inspectors were invited downstairs to look at a specimen of the Directeur's kindness a kindness which he could not restrain even in the case of those who were guilty of some terrible wrong.

Which details cannot possibly offend the reader's aesthetic sense to a greater degree than have already certain minutiae connected with the sanitary arrangements of The Directeur's little home for homeless boys and girls therefore I will not trouble to beg the reader's pardon; but will proceed with my story proper or improper.

He resumed his questions: "What sort of envelope did you put in M. Richard's pocket? It was not the one which we gave you, the one which you took to Box Five before our eyes; and yet that was the one which contained the twenty-thousand francs." "I beg your pardon. The envelope which M. le Directeur gave me was the one which I slipped into M. le Directeur's pocket," explained Mme. Giry.

With which specimen of purely mediaeval torture I leave the subject of Women, and embark upon the quieter if no less enlightening subject of Sunday. Sunday, it will be recalled, was Monsieur le Directeur's third weapon.

A little room. The Directeur's office? Or The Surveillant's? Comfort. O yes, very, very comfortable. On my right a table. At the table three persons. Reminds me of Noyon a bit, not unpleasantly of course.

These things I mention not to excite the reader's pity nor yet his indignation; I mention them because I do not know of any other way to indicate it is no more than indicating the significance of the torture perpetrated under the Directeur's direction in the case of the girl Lena. If incidentally it throws light on the personality of the torturer I shall be gratified.

I shall discuss first of all Monsieur le Directeur's most obvious weapon. Fear was instilled by three means into the erstwhile human entities whose presence at La Ferte gave Apollyon his job.