er from each of these
ladies, and after reading them you will countermand the guillotine.
If matters were not as they are, you would not see me taking things so
easy.--The ladies indeed have had warning."--Monsieur de Granville was
startled.--"They must be making a stir by now; they are going to bring
the Keeper of the Seals into the fray--they may even appeal to the King,
who knows?--Come, now, will you give me your word that you will forget
all that has passed, and neither follow, nor send any one to follow,
that person for a whole hour?"

"I promise it."

"Very well; you are not the man to deceive an escaped convict. You are a
chip of the block of which Turennes and Condes are made, and would keep
your word to a thief.--In the _Salle des Pas-Perdus_ there is at this
moment a beggar woman in rags, an old woman, in the very middle of the
hall. She is probably gossiping with one of the public writers, about
some lawsuit over a party-wall perhaps; send your office messenger to
fetch her, saying these words, 'Dabor ti Mandana' (the Boss wants you).
She will come.

"But do not be unnecessarily cruel. Either you accept my terms or you
do not choose to be mixed up in a business with a convict.--I am only a
forger, you will remember!--Well, do not leave Calvi to go through the
terrors of preparation for the scaffold."

"I have already countermanded the execution," said Monsieur de Granville
to Jacques Collin. "I would not have Justice beneath you in dignity."

Jacques Collin looked at the public prosecutor with a sort of amazement,
and saw him ring his bell.

"Will you promise not to escape? Give me your word, and I shall be
satisfied. Go and fetch the woman."

The office-boy came in.

"Felix, send away the gendarmes," said Monsieur de Granville.

Jacques Collin was conquered.

In this duel with the magistrate he had tried to be the superior, the
stronger, the more magnanimous, and the magistrate had crushed him. At
the same time, the convict felt himself the superior, inasmuch as he had
tricked the Law; he had convinced it that the guilty man was innocent,
and had fought for a man's head and won it; but this advantage must be
unconfessed, secret and hidden, while the magistrate towered above him
majestically in the eye of day.

As Jacques Collin left Monsieur de Granville's room, the Comte des
Lupeaulx, Secretary-in-Chief of the President of the Council, and a
deputy, made his appearance, and with him a fee