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"You wretched man!" exclaimed the young detective, "to betray our plans to the enemy!" But his calmness soon returned. If at first sight the evil seemed to be beyond remedy, on further thought it had a good side after all. It sufficed to dispel all the doubts that had assailed Lecoq's mind after his visit to the Hotel de Mariembourg.
And then she began to sob: 'Indeed, madame, indeed I can't! she said, and really she seemed quite unable to move: in fact, she appeared to be so ill that I said to myself: 'Here is a young woman who has drunk more than is good for her!" These facts confirmed even if they corrected Lecoq's first suppositions. As he had suspected, the social position of the two women was not the same.
"If you want any more money," she said, "write to me, and I'll tell the lawyer to forward you some; but if I give you any more now, Monsieur Paul will have it all." Then one December morning, Denis Lecoq's gig came to take them both to the railway station, for Rosalie was going to accompany her mistress as far as that.
Such accidents occur every day; and their long list should make humble foot-passengers bless the lowly lot which preserves them from such peril. On learning the misfortune that had befallen M. d'Escorval, Lecoq's face wore such an expression of consternation that the doorkeeper could not help laughing. "What is there so very extraordinary about that I've told you?" he asked. "I oh! nothing "
"Ah, look out!" cried M. Lecoq, suddenly changing his tone. "Now get up here, and tell us what you were about in the garden?" "But you are wounded!" exclaimed Plantat, observing stains of blood on M. Lecoq's shirt. "Oh, that's nothing only a scratch that this fellow gave me with a big cutlass he had."
The same evening, the chevalier, intending to relate his new adventure in all its details, invited some of his friends to sup with him at the pastrycook Lecoq's.
"If I had been there! If only I had been there!" he murmured regretfully every now and then through his set teeth, though when Lecoq's story was finished, enthusiasm seemed decidedly to have gained the upper hand. "It is beautiful! it is grand!" he exclaimed. "And with just that one phrase: 'It is the Prussians who are coming, for a starting point!
On M. Lecoq's entrance with M. Plantat, they respectfully got up and took off their hats. "Good for you, Job," said M. Lecoq to him who seemed to be their chief, "you are prompt, and it pleases me. Your ten men will be quite enough, for I shall have the three besides whom I sent out this morning." M. Job bowed, happy at having pleased a master who was not very prodigal in his praises.
"If you will permit me, I prefer to proceed without receiving any details, in order to be more fully master of my own impressions. When one knows another's opinion it can't help influencing one's judgment. I will, if you please, at once commence my researches, with Lecoq's assistance." As the old fellow spoke, his little gray eyes dilated, and became brilliant as carbuncles.
Why look, the poor devil did not even know how to put on his shoes; he has laced his gaiters wrong side outwards." Evidently further doubt was impossible after this evidence, which confirmed the truth of Lecoq's first remark to Inspector Gevrol. "Still, if this person was a civilian, how could he have procured this clothing?" insisted the commissary.
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