mistress. But killing a police-inspector is
not the action of a man of fashion."

"Be silent," exclaimed Maurice, "be silent, scoundrel! I killed the poor
Inspector instinctively, not knowing what I was doing. I am grieved to
my heart about it. But it is not I, it is you who are the guilty one;
you who are the murderer. It was you who lured me along this path of
revolt and violence which leads to the pit. You have been my undoing.
You have sacrificed my peace of mind, my happiness, to your pride and
your wickedness, and all in vain; for I warn you, Arcade, you will not
succeed in what you are undertaking."

The concierge brought in the newspapers. On seeing them Maurice grew
pale. They announced the outrage in the Rue de Ramey in huge headlines:

"An Inspector killed--Two cyclist policemen and two bakers seriously
wounded--Three houses blown up, numerous victims."

Maurice let the paper drop, and said in a weak, plaintive voice:

"Arcade, why did you not slay me in the little garden at Versailles
amidst the roses, to the song of the blackbirds?"

Meanwhile terror reigned in Paris. In the public squares, and in the
crowded streets, house-wives, string-bag in hand, grew pale as they
listened to the story of the crime, and consigned the perpetrators to
the most dreadful punishment. Shop-keepers, standing at the doors of
their shops, put it all down to the anarchists, syndicalists,
socialists, and radicals, and demanded that special measures should be
taken against them.

The more thoughtful people recognized the handiwork of the Jew and the
German, and demanded the expulsion of all aliens. Many vaunted the ways
of America and advocated lynching. In addition to the printed news
sinister rumours became current. Explosions had been heard at various
places; everywhere bombs had been discovered; everywhere individuals,
taken for malefactors, had been struck down by the popular arm and given
up to justice, torn to ribbons. On the Place de la Republique a drunkard
who was crying "Down with the police" was torn to pieces by the crowd.

The President of the Council and Minister of Justice held long
conferences with the Prefect of Police, and they agreed to take
immediate action. In order to allay the excitement of the Parisians,
they arrested five or six hooligans out of the thirty thousand which the
Capital contains. The chief of the Russian police, believing he
recognised in this attack the methods of the Nihilists, deman