of the prisoner, May. Since his unsuccessful attempt at
suicide, this prisoner has been in such a state of excitement that we
have been obliged to keep him in a strait-waistcoat. He did not close
his eyes all last night, and the guards who watched him expected every
moment that he would become delirious. However, he did not utter a word.
When food was offered him this morning, he resolutely rejected it, and
I should not be surprised if it were his intention to starve himself
to death. I have rarely seen a more determined criminal. I think him
capable of any desperate act."

"Ah!" exclaimed the clerk, whose smile had disappeared, "If I were
in your place, sir, I would only let him in here with an escort of
soldiers."

"What! you--Goguet, you, an old clerk--make such a proposition! Can it
be that you're frightened?"

"Frightened! No, certainly not; but--"

"Nonsense!" interrupted Lecoq, in a tone that betrayed superlative
confidence in his own muscles; "Am I not here?"

If M. Segmuller had seated himself at his desk, that article of
furniture would naturally have served as a rampart between the prisoner
and himself. For purposes of convenience he usually did place himself
behind it; but after Goguet's display of fear, he would have blushed
to have taken the slightest measure of self-protection. Accordingly,
he went and sat down by the fireplace--as he had done a few moments
previously while questioning the Widow Chupin--and then ordered his
door-keeper to admit the prisoner alone. He emphasized this word
"alone."

A moment later the door was flung open with a violent jerk, and the
prisoner entered, or rather precipitated himself into the room. Goguet
turned pale behind his table, and Lecoq advanced a step forward, ready
to spring upon the prisoner and pinion him should it be requisite. But
when the latter reached the centre of the room, he paused and looked
around him. "Where is the magistrate?" he inquired, in a hoarse voice.

"I am the magistrate," replied M. Segmuller.

"No, the other one."

"What other one?"

"The one who came to question me last evening."

"He has met with an accident. Yesterday, after leaving you, he fell down
and broke his leg."

"Oh!"

"And I am to take his place."

The prisoner was apparently deaf to the explanation. Excitement had
seemingly given way to stupor. His features, hitherto contracted with
anger, now relaxed. He grew pale and tottered, as if about to fall.

"Compo