elbowed by the pressing crowd, he was obliged
to come out on the pavement in full view of the window.

"Now don't you see I was right!" cried the cashier.

"Well," said the amazed Joseph, "I am amazed!"

M. Verduret seemed not in the least surprised, but quietly said:

"The game needs hunting. Well, Joseph, my boy, do you still think that
your noble master was duped by your acting injured innocence?"

"You assured me to the contrary, patron," said Joseph in an humble tone;
"and your opinion is more convincing than all the proofs in the world."

"This pretended outburst of rage was premeditated on the part of your
noble master. Knowing that he is being tracked, he naturally wishes to
discover who his adversaries are. You can imagine how uncomfortable he
must be at this uncertainty. Perhaps he thinks his pursuers are some of
his old accomplices, who, being starved, want a piece of his cake. He
will remain there until you come out: then he will come in to find out
who you are."

"But, patron, I can go home without his seeing me."

"Yes, I know. You will climb the little wall separating the Archangel
from the wine-merchant's yard, and keep along the stationer's area,
until you reach the Rue de la Huchette."

Poor Joseph looked as if he had just received a bucket of ice-water upon
his head.

"Exactly the way I was going, patron," he gasped out. "I heard that you
knew every plank and door of all the houses in Paris, and it certainly
must be so."

The fat man made no reply to Joseph's admiring remarks. He was thinking
how he could catch Clameran.

As to the cashier, he listened wonderingly, watching these strangers,
who seemed determined to reinstate him in public opinion, and punish his
enemies, while he himself stood by powerless and bewildered. What their
motives for befriending him could be, he vainly tried to discover.

"I will tell you what I can do," said Joseph after deep thought.

"What is it?"

"I can innocently walk out of the front door, and loaf along the street
until I reach the Hotel du Louvre."

"And then?"

"Dame! Clameran will come in and question Mme. Alexandre, whom you can
instruct beforehand; and she is smart enough to put any sharper off the
track."

"Bad plan!" pronounced M. Verduret decidedly; "a scamp so compromised
as Clameran is not easily put off the track; now his eyes are opened, he
will be pretty hard to catch."

Suddenly, in a brief tone of authority which admitted of n