for. "Have you heard anything about a crime that
has been committed in the neighborhood?" he interrupted.

"Yes; a murder in a low wine-shop."

"Well, then, I will tell you that these two women are mixed up in it;
they fled when we entered the place. I am trying to find them. I am a
detective; here is my card. Now, can you give me any information?"

The driver had grown very pale. "Ah! the wretches!" he exclaimed. "I
am no longer surprised at the luck-money they gave me--a louis and two
five-franc pieces for the fare--thirty francs in all. Cursed money! If I
hadn't spent it, I'd throw it away!"

"And where did you drive them?"

"To the Rue de Bourgogne. I have forgotten the number, but I should
recognize the house."

"Unfortunately, they would not have let you drive them to their own
door."

"Who knows? I saw them ring the bell, and I think they went in just as I
drove away. Shall I take you there?"

Lecoq's sole response was to spring on to the box, exclaiming: "Let us
be off."

It was not to be supposed that the women who had escaped from the Widow
Chupin's drinking-den at the moment of the murder were utterly devoid
of intelligence. Nor was it at all likely that these two fugitives,
conscious as they were of their perilous situation, had gone straight
to their real home in a vehicle hired on the public highway. Hence,
the driver's hope of finding them in the Rue de Bourgogne was purely
chimerical. Lecoq was fully aware of this, and yet he did not hesitate
to jump on to the box and give the signal for starting. In so doing, he
obeyed a maxim which he had framed in his early days of meditation--a
maxim intended to assure his after-fame, and which ran as follows:
"Always suspect that which seems probable; and begin by believing what
appears incredible."

As soon as the vehicle was well under way, the young detective proceeded
to ingratiate himself into the driver's good graces, being anxious to
obtain all the information that this worthy was able to impart.

In a tone that implied that all trifling would be useless the cabman
cried: "Hey up, hey up, Cocotte!" and his mare pricked up her ears and
quickened her pace, so that the Rue de Choisy was speedily reached. Then
it was that Lecoq resumed his inquiries.

"Well, my good fellow," he began, "you have told me the principal facts,
now I should like the details. How did these two women attract your
attention?"

"Oh, it was very simple. I had been having