een thought inadvisable for me to be seen that morning
anywhere in the neighbourhood of the Rue Daunou, but that perfidious
reptile Theodore ran no risks in doing what he was told. To begin with
he is a past master in the art of worming himself in and out of a
house without being seen, and in this case it was his business to
exercise a double measure of caution. And secondly, if by some unlucky
chance the police did subsequently connect him with the crime, there
was I, his employer, a man of integrity and repute, prepared to swear
that the man had been in my company at the other end of Paris all the
while that M. le Marquis de Firmin-Latour was, by special arrangement,
making use of my office in the Rue Daunou, which I had lent him for
purposes of business.

Finally it was agreed between us that when M. le Marquis would
presently be questioned by the police as to the appearance of the man
who had assaulted and robbed him, he would describe him as tall and
blond, almost like an Angliche in countenance. Now I possess--as you
see, Sir--all the finest characteristics of the Latin race, whilst
Theodore looks like nothing on earth, save perhaps a cross between a
rat and a monkey.

I wish you to realize, therefore, that no one ran any risks in this
affair excepting myself. I, as the proprietor of the apartment where
the assault was actually supposed to have taken place, did run a very
grave risk, because I could never have proved an alibi. Theodore was
such a disreputable mudlark that his testimony on my behalf would have
been valueless. But with sublime sacrifice I accepted these risks, and
you will presently see, Sir, how I was repaid for my selflessness. I
pined in a lonely prison-cell while these two limbs of Satan concocted
a plot to rob me of my share in our mutual undertaking.

Well, Sir, the day came when I was taken from my prison-cell for the
purpose of being confronted with the man whom I was accused of having
assaulted. As you will imagine, I was perfectly calm. According to our
plan the confrontation would be the means of setting me free at once.
I was conveyed to the house in the Rue de Grammont, and here I was
kept waiting for some little time while the juge d'instruction went in
to prepare M. le Marquis, who was still far from well. Then I was
introduced into the sick-room. I looked about me with the perfect
composure of an innocent man about to be vindicated, and calmly gazed
on the face of the sick man who