help you in this instance. To speak plainly, I have restored her to her
souteneur." We both opened our eyes very wide. "Yes," came the remark,
"I know what you are going to say. I can sum up all your objections
before you utter them. But I could not help myself; the fellow rendered
me a service, and this was the price of it. Without his aid, one of the
most desperate burglars in Paris would still be at large. As it is, I
have got him safe under lock and key. Very shocking, no doubt; mais, a
la guerre comme a la guerre." Then, seeing that we did not answer, he
continued: "As a rule, I do not explain my tactics to everybody; but
you, M. David, are not everybody, and, if you like to meet me when the
theatre is over, I shall be pleased to have a chat with you."

At half-past twelve that night we were seated at a restaurant near the
Porte Saint-Martin, and, after a few preliminary remarks, Canler
explained.

However great an artist you may be, M. David, you could not produce a
statue without the outlay for the marble, or for the casting of it in
bronze. You, moreover, want to pay your _praticien_, who does the rough
work for you. Our _praticiens_ are the informers, and they want to be
paid like the most honest workmen. The detection of crime means, no
doubt, intelligence, but it means also money. Now, money is the very
thing I have not got, and yet, when I accepted the functions I am at
present fulfilling, I gave my promise to M. Delessert not to neglect the
detective part of the business. I wish to keep my word, first of all,
because I pledged it; secondly, because detection of crime is food and
drink to me; thirdly, because I hope to be the head of the Paris
detective force one day. The Government allows a ridiculously small sum
every year for distribution among informers, and rewards among their own
agents; it is something over thirty thousand francs, but not a sou of
which ever reached my hands when I accepted my present appointment, and
scarcely a sou of which reaches me now. I was, therefore, obliged to
look out for auxiliaries, sufficiently disinterested to assist me
gratuitously, but, knowing that absolute disinterestedness is very rare
indeed, I looked for my collaborateurs among the very ones I was charged
to watch, but who, in exchange for my protection in the event of their
offending, were ready to peach upon their companions in crime and in
vice. I need not trouble you by enumerating the various categories of