ilies if
they leave a will, or to their mistresses when they draw upon him for
their benefit."

"Their mistresses! You mean their wives," remarked Poiret.

"No, sir. A convict's wife is usually an illegitimate connection. We
call them concubines."

"Then they all live in a state of concubinage?"

"Naturally."

"Why, these are abominations that his Excellency ought not to allow.
Since you have the honor of seeing his Excellency, you, who seem to have
philanthropic ideas, ought really to enlighten him as to their immoral
conduct--they are setting a shocking example to the rest of society."

"But the Government does not hold them up as models of all the virtues,
my dear sir----"

"Of course not, sir; but still----"

"Just let the gentleman say what he has to say, dearie," said Mlle.
Michonneau.

"You see how it is, mademoiselle," Gondureau continued. "The Government
may have the strongest reasons for getting this illicit hoard into its
hands; it mounts up to something considerable, by all that we can
make out. Trompe-la-Mort not only holds large sums for his friends the
convicts, but he has other amounts which are paid over to him by the
Society of the Ten Thousand----"

"Ten Thousand Thieves!" cried Pioret in alarm.

"No. The Society of the Ten Thousand is not an association of petty
offenders, but of people who set about their work on a large scale--they
won't touch a matter unless there are ten thousand francs in it. It is
composed of the most distinguished of the men who are sent straight to
the Assize Courts when they come up for trial. They know the Code
too well to risk their necks when they are nabbed. Collin is their
confidential agent and legal adviser. By means of the large sums of
money at his disposal he has established a sort of detective system of
his own; it is widespread and mysterious in its workings. We have had
spies all about him for a twelvemonth, and yet we could not manage to
fathom his games. His capital and his cleverness are at the service of
vice and crime; this money furnishes the necessary funds for a regular
army of blackguards in his pay who wage incessant war against society.
If we can catch Trompe-la-Mort, and take possession of his funds,
we should strike at the root of this evil. So this job is a kind of
Government affair--a State secret--and likely to redound to the honor
of those who bring the thing to a successful conclusion. You, sir, for
instance, might very well be t