ing the place where stood the garden chair with
the knitting upon it. I grasped the shawl. I was ready.

Another few seconds of agonising suspense went by. The fair Leah had
ceased to move. Undoubtedly she was engaged in disentangling the wool
from the leg of the chair. That was my opportunity. More stealthy than
any cat, I tiptoed toward the chair--and, indeed, at that moment I
blessed the sudden yowl set up by some feline in its wrath which rent
the still night air and effectually drowned any sound which I might
make.

There, not three paces away from me, was the dim outline of the young
girl's form vaguely discernible in the gloom--a white mass, almost
motionless, against a background of inky blackness. With a quick
intaking of my breath I sprang forward, the shawl outspread in my
hand, and with a quick dexterous gesture I threw it over her head, and
the next second had her, faintly struggling, in my arms. She was as
light as a feather, and I was as strong as a giant. Think of it, Sir!
There was I, alone in the darkness, holding in my arms, together with
a lovely form, a fortune of two hundred thousand francs!

Of that fool Fernand Rochez I did not trouble to think. He had a
barouche waiting _up_ the Rue des Pipots, a hundred metres from the
corner of the Passage Corneille, but I had a chaise and pair of horses
waiting _down_ that same street, and that now was my objective. Yes,
Sir! I had arranged the whole thing! But I had done it for mine own
advantage, not for that of the miserly friend who had been too great a
coward to risk his own skin for the sake of his beloved.

The guerdon was mine, and I was determined this time that no traitor
or ingrate should filch from me the reward of my labours. With the
thousand francs which Rochez had given me for my services I had
engaged the chaise and horses, paid the coachman lavishly, and secured
a cosy little apartment for my future wife in a pleasant hostelry I
knew of at Suresnes.

I had taken the precaution to leave the wicket-gate on the latch. With
my foot I pushed it open, and, keeping well under the cover of the
tall convent wall, I ran swiftly to the corner of the Rue des Pipots.
Here I paused a moment. Through the silence of the night my ear caught
the faint sound of horses snorting and harness jingling in the
distance, both sides from where I stood; but of gendarmes or
passers-by there was no sign. Gathering up the full measure of my
courage and holding my pr