stood revealed. She
was about forty, dressed in her wrapper and with her hair still in curl
papers.

"Louis must go to the Station?" she demanded.

"Yes, Madame, an arrest has been made ..."

"He must go to the Station?" she repeated in a menacing tone.

Sergeant Masson retreated to the landing. He simply nodded his head.

"But he _is_ there! He told me he was! Ah, I see how it is!... He's been
lying again. He's been running after women ... all right, he'll pay for
it when he gets home!"

The door shut with a bang and the lady disappeared.

"What an idiot I've been," muttered the discomfited sergeant. "I ought
to have known better. Of course he's not with his wife, he's with his
mistress!"

Several minutes later he reached another apartment in a neighboring
street.

This time he had no misgivings and congratulated himself upon his
professional cleverness in tracking his man down.

The same performance was gone through. A ring at the bell brought an
answer to the door.

"Who is there?" said a man's voice.

"It is I ... Sergeant Masson."

The door was opened and a young man stood in the hall. He was about
thirty and wore an undershirt and drawers.

"Well, Sergeant!"

The sergeant shrank back; he would have been glad if he could have
disappeared in the walls. The chief's secretary stood before him.

"I was ... was looking ..." he stammered.

The secretary interrupted with a smile.

"No, he's not here. In fact, we are rarely found together."

Then putting a hand on the sergeant's shoulder:

"As gentleman to gentleman, I count on your discretion."

The door shut softly and the sergeant turned sadly and went back to the
Station, pondering over the personal annoyance this general post at
night occasioned him.

He was greeted on his return by a few sharp words.

"Ah, there you are, Masson!... At last!... An event of the first
importance occurs, an amazing scandal breaks out and you desert your
post.... It's always the way if I'm not here to look after things. I
shall have to report you, you know. Where have you been?"

The speaker was a man still quite young, who wore the ribbon of the
Legion of Honor. It was the chief himself. On the way home from some
late party he had dropped into the Station out of simple curiosity.

* * * * *

Was he awake or was he dreaming?

Fandor felt stiff all over, his head was heavy and his mind a blank....
And then came a thirst, a