rrest was sent to Gaillon, and
twelve hours later he also was in the Conciergerie at Rouen. This did
not prevent Bonnoeil's writing to him the next day, Licquet, as may be
imagined, not having informed the prisoners of his arrest.

"I beg you, my dear Soyer, to look in the two or three desks in my
mother's room, and see if you cannot find anything that could compromise
her, above all any of M. Delorieres' (d'Ache's) writing. Destroy it all.
If you are asked how long it is since M. Delorieres was at Tournebut,
say he has not been there for nearly two years. Tell this to Collin, to
Catin, and to the yard girl...."

Licquet carefully copied these letters and then sent them to their
destination, hoping that the answers would give him some light. In his
frequent visits to the prisoners he dared not venture on the slightest
allusion to the confidences they exchanged, for fear that they might
suspect the fidelity of their messenger, and refuse his help. Thus, many
points remained obscure to the detective. The next letter from
Bonnoeil to Soyer contained this sentence: "Put the small curtains on
the window of the place where I told you to bury the nail...." We can
imagine Licquet with his head in his hands trying to solve this enigma.
The muslin fichu, the little curtains, the nail--was this a cipher
decided on in advance between the prisoners? And all these precautions
seemed to be taken for the mysterious d'Ache whose safety seemed to be
their sole desire. A word from Mme. de Combray to Bonnoeil leaves no
doubt as to the conspirator's recent sojourn at Tournebut: "I wish Mme.
K.... to go to my house and see with So ... if Delor ... has not left
some paper in the oil-cloth of the little room near the room where the
cooks slept. Let him look everywhere and burn everything." This time the
information seemed so sure that Licquet started for Tournebut, which had
been occupied by gendarmes for a fortnight; he took Soyer to guide him,
and the commissary of police, Legendre, to make a report of the search.

They arrived at Tournebut on the morning of September 5th. Licquet, who
was much exhilarated by this hunt for conspirators, must have felt a
singular emotion on approaching the mysterious mansion, object of all
his thoughts. He took it all in at a glance, he was struck by the
isolation of the chateau, away from the road below the woods; he found
that it could be entered at twenty different places, without one's being
seen. He se