at Daddy Jacques had not recognised him.
And yet Larsan had found the opportunity to rob the old man of a pair of
old boots and a cast-off Basque cap, which the servant had tied up in
a handkerchief, with the intention of carrying them to a friend, a
charcoal-burner on the road to Epinay. When the crime was discovered,
Daddy Jacques had immediately recognised these objects as his. They were
extremely compromising, which explains his distress at the time when we
spoke to him about them. Larsan confessed it all to me. He is an
artist at the game. He did a similar thing in the affair of the 'Credit
Universel,' and in that of the 'Gold Ingots of the Mint.' Both these
cases should be revised. Since Ballmeyer or Larsan has been in the
Surete a number of innocent persons have been sent to prison."

CHAPTER XXVIII. In Which It Is Proved That One Does Not Always Think of
Everything

Great excitement prevailed when Rouletabille had finished. The
court-room became agitated with the murmurings of suppressed applause.
Maitre Henri Robert called for an adjournment of the trial and was
supported in his motion by the public prosecutor himself. The case was
adjourned. The next day Monsieur Robert Darzac was released on bail,
while Daddy Jacques received the immediate benefit of a "no cause for
action." Search was everywhere made for Frederic Larsan, but in vain.
Monsieur Darzac finally escaped the awful calamity which, at one time,
had threatened him. After a visit to Mademoiselle Stangerson, he was led
to hope that she might, by careful nursing, one day recover her reason.

Rouletabille, naturally, became the "man of the hour." On leaving the
Palais de Justice, the crowd bore him aloft in triumph. The press of
the whole world published his exploits and his photograph. He, who
had interviewed so many illustrious personages, had himself become
illustrious and was interviewed in his turn. I am glad to say that the
enormous success in no way turned his head.

We left Versailles together, after having dined at "The Dog That
Smokes." In the train I put a number of questions to him which, during
our meal, had been on the tip of my tongue, but which I had refrained
from uttering, knowing he did not like to talk "shop" while eating.

"My friend," I said, "that Larsan case is wonderful. It is worthy of
you."

He begged me to say no more, and humorously pretended an anxiety for
me should I give way to silly praise of him because of