d zeal cannot be mistaken, in the manner in which I have
been treated for some time. I cannot conceal from you, M. le Comte, that
I am keenly wounded at the measures that have been taken towards me. It
has been thought better to put faith in people of tarnished and
despicable reputation, the terror of families, than in a man who has
only sought the good of the country he represented, and known no other
ambition than that of acting wisely."

And this letter, so astonishing from the pen of an imperial prefect, was
a sort of revenge for all the poor people for whom the police had laid
such odious traps; it would remind Fouche of all the Licquets and
Foisons who in the exercise of justice found matter for repugnant
comedies. It was surprising that Licquet had had no hand in the affair
of La Delivrande. Had he breathed it to Real? It is possible, though
there is no indication of his interference, albeit his manner is
recognised in the scenario of the snare to which d'Ache fell a victim,
and in the fact that he appeared at the end, coming from Rouen with his
secretary Dupont, and the husband of the woman Levasseur who was said to
have been d'Ache's mistress.

On the morning of September 23d, a meeting took place at seven o'clock
at the Mayor of Luc's house. The doctors who had held the autopsy were
there, Captain Mancel and Foison, who was in great agitation, although
he tried to hide it, at having to assist at the exhumation of his
victim. They started for the cemetery, and the grave-digger did his
work. After fifteen minutes the shovel struck the board that covered
d'Ache's body, and soon after the corpse was seen. The beard had grown
thick and strong. Foison gazed at it. It was indeed the man with whom he
had travelled a whole night, chatting amiably while each step brought
him nearer to the assassins who were waiting for him. Licquet moved
about with complete self-control, talking of the time when he had known
the man who lay there, his face swollen but severe, his nose thin as an
eagle's beak, his lips tightened. Suddenly the detective remembered a
sign that he had formerly noted, and ordered the dead man's boots to be
removed. All present could then see that d'Ache's "toe-nails were so
grown over into his flesh that he walked on them." Foison also saw, and
wishing to brave this corpse, more terrifying for him than for any one
else, he stooped and opened the dead lips with the end of his cane. A
wave of fetid air struck