etz among them?"

"Chut! no; he would be pleased to call you his friend. I was thinking
of personal enemies like M. Peleton and the Baron Maubranne. The Abbe
and M. de Lalande will only use you for the good of the Cause; but I
distrust the others."

"The good of the Cause? You speak in riddles, my friend!"

"It is necessary, monsieur; as it is, I have spoken too much."

"But you will answer one other question? Why did that wretched
Francois prowl about the Rue Crillon?"

Pillot burst into a peal of such merry laughter that I thought he would
be choked, and it was long before he could reply.

"Pardon me, monsieur," he exclaimed at length, "but really the joke was
excellent. Francois acted the spy only when you were about; and simply
to attract your attention. He was the bait, and you--pardon the
expression--were the fish, though I, for one, did not expect to see you
landed so easily."

Pillot's explanation made the affair a trifle plainer, and showed how
foolishly I had acted. Instead of being a stupid dolt, this Francois
was really a clever fellow, who had tricked me admirably. My cheeks
burned as I saw what a dupe I had been. As a matter of fact, he could
have slipped away at any moment, instead of which he had purposely
lured me on. His hesitation at the corner of the _cul-de-sac_, his
apparent attempt to dash past me, his whining answers, all had their
purpose, and, while I reckoned myself master of the situation, Pillot
and the third man were creeping out of their hiding-places. Truly, I
had myself been a stupid dolt!

Still there was one point which puzzled me, and I asked Pillot why the
fellow waited so long before playing his trick.

"Francois obeys orders," he replied. "It would not have suited our
purpose to have shut you up before last night."

This sounded mysterious, but Pillot would not enlighten me further, and
alone I could make nothing of it. Except on one point, the dwarf
talked freely enough, and was a very agreeable gaoler. A true child of
Paris, he knew the city well, and having been mixed up in all sorts of
adventures, was able to relate numerous startling stories. The time
passed pleasantly enough till about eleven o'clock, when he went away,
and his place was taken by the man called Pierre.

At first I was rather glad of the change, imagining this fellow might
be more simple, as indeed he was; so simple, in fact, that he knew
nothing. He was a short man with a massive