rcy.

As soon as I had seen these women in the hands of justice I fled, tasting
the sweets of vengeance, which are very great, but yet a sign of
unhappiness. The rage in which I had arrested the three procuresses, and
my terror in seeing the woman who had well-nigh killed me, shewed that I
was not really cured. To be so I must fly from them and forget them
altogether.

The next morning Goudar came and congratulated me on the bold step I had
taken, which proved, he said, that I was either cured or more in love
than ever. "I have just come from Denmark Street," he added, "and I only
saw the grandmother, who was weeping bitterly, and an attorney, whom no
doubt she was consulting."

"Then you have heard what has happened?"

"Yes, I came up a minute after you had gone and I stayed till the three
old sluts made up their minds to go with the constable. They resisted and
said he ought to leave them till the next day, when they would be able to
find someone to bail them. The two bravos drew their swords to resist the
law, but the other constable disarmed them one after the other, and the
three women were led off. The Charpillon wanted to accompany them, but it
was judged best that she should remain at liberty, in order to try and
set them free."

Goudar concluded by saying that he should go and see them in prison, and
if I felt disposed to come to an arrangement he would mediate between us.
I told him that the only arrangement I would accept was the payment of
the six thousand francs, and that they might think themselves very lucky
that I did not insist on having my interest, and thus repaying myself in
part for the sums they had cheated out of me.

A fortnight elapsed without my hearing any more of the matter. The
Charpillon dined with them every day, and in fact, kept them. It must
have cost her a good deal, for they had two rooms, and their landlord
would not allow them to have their meals prepared outside the prison.
Goudar told me that the Charpillon said she would never beg me to listen
to her mother, though she knew she had only to call on me to obtain
anything she wanted. She thought me the most abominable of men. If I feel
obliged to maintain that she was equally abominable, I must confess that
on this occasion she shewed more strength of mind than I; but whereas I
had acted out of passion, her misdeeds were calculated, and tended solely
to her own interests.

For the whole of this fortnight I had sought for Edg