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"Now," replied Lupin, "I am going to take a rest, enjoy the best of food and drink and gradually recover my former healthy condition. It is all very well to become Baudru or some other person, on occasion, and to change your personality as you do your shirt, but you soon grow weary of the change.
The clerk read the indictment, then the judge spoke: "Prisoner at the bar, stand up. Your name, age, and occupation?" Not receiving any reply, the judge repeated: "Your name? I ask you your name?" A thick, slow voice muttered: "Baudru, Desire." A murmur of surprise pervaded the courtroom. But the judge proceeded: "Baudru, Desire? Ah! a new alias!
After a month of patient investigation, the problem remained unsolved. The poor devil of a Baudru could not be kept in prison indefinitely, and to place him on trial would be ridiculous. There was no charge against him. Consequently, he was released; but the chief of the Surete resolved to keep him under surveillance. This idea originated with Ganimard.
"The change was progressive. The evolution was so gradual that they failed to notice it." "But Baudru Desire?" "Baudru exists. He is a poor, harmless fellow whom I met last year; and, really, he bears a certain resemblance to me. Considering my arrest as a possible event, I took charge of Baudru and studied the points wherein we differed in appearance with a view to correct them in my own person.
One foggy morning in January the prison gates opened and Baudru Desire stepped forth a free man. At first he appeared to be quite embarrassed, and walked like a person who has no precise idea whither he is going. He followed the rue de la Sante and the rue Saint Jacques.
He had lost the youthful face and elegant figure we had seen portrayed so often in the newspapers. It appeared as if he had not heard the question propounded by the judge. Twice it was repeated to him. Then he raised his eyes, seemed to reflect, then, making a desperate effort, he murmured: "Baudru, Desire."
Another question suggested itself: Had the substitution been arranged in advance? In that event Baudru must have been an accomplice and must have caused his own arrest for the express purpose of taking Lupin's place. But then, by what miracle had such a plan, based on a series of improbable chances, been carried to success?
After the lapse of another half-hour, Ganimard became impatient and resolved to speak to the man. He approached and took a seat beside Baudru, lighted a cigarette, traced some figures in the sand with the end of his cane, and said: "It's a pleasant day." No response. But, suddenly the man burst into laughter, a happy, mirthful laugh, spontaneous and irresistible.
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