accessory; his threatening attitude shed a flood of light
upon the past. What had taken place after the murder, then, had outline
and life. But had no eye accompanied poor Fualdes on his last walk? Had
no one seen him leave his house, without any foreboding, and, whistling
merrily perhaps, pass through the dark Rue de l'Ambrague, where the
accomplices of the murder doubtless lay in waiting? Yes. The same
licentiate whom Bousquier's cursing had roused from his sleep had seen
the old man at eight in the evening turn into the narrow street, and
shortly after some one follow hastily behind him; whether a man or a
woman, Monsieur Coulon could not remember. Besides, a locksmith's
apprentice came forward who had observed, from the mayor's residence,
some persons signaling to each other. The mayor's dwelling was
situated, it is true, in a different quarter of the town, but that
circumstance was considered of little account in so widespun a
conspiracy--had they not the testimony of a coachman who had seen two
men standing motionless in the Rue des Hebdomadiers? Many of the
inhabitants of that street now recalled that they had heard a constant
whispering, hemming and hawing, and calling, to which, being in an
unsuspicious mood at the time, they naturally paid no special heed. It
was an accepted fact that watchers were posted at every corner, nay,
even a female sentinel had been observed in the gateway of the
Guildhall. The tailor, Brost, asserted that he had heard the whispering
or sighing more distinctly than any one else; he had, thereupon, opened
his window and seen five or six people enter the Bancal house, among
them the tall, powerful man. Some time after, a neighbor had observed a
person being dragged over the pavement; believing it was a girl who had
drunk too much, he attached no further significance to it. Far more
important than such confused rumors did it seem that as late as between
nine and ten o'clock, an organ-grinder was still playing in the Rue des
Hebdomadiers. The purpose was clear: it was to drown the death-cry
of the victim. It soon turned out that there must have been two
organ-grinders, one of whom, a cripple, had squatted on the curbstone
in front of the Rue de l'Ambrague. To be sure, it had been the annual
fair-day in Rodez, and the presence of organ-grinders would, therefore,
not have signified anything mysterious, if the lateness of the hour had
not exposed them to suspicion. Several persons even mention