ape, I arranged this plan and
corresponded in cipher with my friend--"

"Oh, _mon Dieu!_ his child! his son! This man appals me!" cried Rodolph,
with horror, and hiding his head between his hands.

"But it was only of forgery that we thought," exclaimed the scoundrel;
"and when my son was informed what was expected of him, he was
indignant, told all to his employer, and quitted Nantes. You will find
in my pocketbook notes of all the steps taken to discover his traces.
The last place we ascertained he had lived in was the Rue du Temple,
where he was known under the name of Francois Germain; the exact address
is also in my pocketbook. You see I do not wish to conceal anything,--I
have told you everything I know. Now keep your promise. I only ask you
to have me taken into custody for _this_ night's robbery."

"And the cattle-merchant at Poissy?"

"That affair can never be brought to light,--there are no proofs. I own
it to _you_, in proof of the sincerity with which I am speaking, but
before any other person I should deny all knowledge of the business."

"You confess it, then, do you?"

"I was destitute, without the smallest means of living,--the Chouette
instigated me to do it; but now I sincerely repent ever having listened
to her. I do, indeed. Ah! would you but generously save me from the
hands of justice, I would promise you most solemnly to forsake all such
evil practices for the future."

"Be satisfied, your life shall be spared; neither will I deliver you
into the hands of the law."

"Do you, then, pardon me?" exclaimed the Schoolmaster, as though
doubting what he heard. "Can it be? Can you be so generous as to
forgive?"

"I both judge you and award your sentence," cried Rodolph, in a solemn
tone. "I will not surrender you to the power of the laws, because they
would condemn you to the galleys or the scaffold; and that must not be.
No, for many reasons. The galleys would but open a fresh field for the
development of your brutal strength and villainy, which would soon be
exercised in endeavouring to obtain domination over the guilty or
unfortunate beings you would be associated with, to render yourself a
fresh object of horror or of dread; for even crime has its ambition, and
yours has long consisted in a pre-eminence in vicious deeds and monstrous
vices, while your iron frame would alike defy the labours of the oar or
the chastisement of those set over you. And the strongest chains may be
broken, the thi