arms of the City of Paris upon
them. "Go out and scour all the streets in the neighbourhood. You may
catch him yet!"

Without a second's delay, both men dashed out to do the bidding of their
superior officer.

Adolphe Carlier was left with the two agents of the Surete--both dark,
shrewd little men, broad-shouldered, and short of stature,--while the
commissary, who wore the button of the Legion d'Honneur in his overcoat,
made a tour of the apartment.

Another agent of police, in plain clothes, entered and saluted.

"Did you see anything of the fugitive, Leblanc?" asked the commissary
eagerly.

"Nothing, m'sieur. I came along from the depot, but met nobody."

"Search this place," he said. "There is some stolen stuff hidden in this
rat-hole, I expect."

"I tell you Ralph Ansell has it all," declared the man held by the two
officers, who were now allowing him to bandage up his hand, prior to
putting handcuffs upon his wrists. "Arrest Ansell, and you will find
everything upon him."

"Do you live here?" asked the commissary.

"No. Ansell lives here with his wife."

"His wife! Where is she?"

"I don't know. She was here at dinner-time, but now she's gone. She's
left him."

"Why?"

"Because of his brutality." And Adolphe described the scene of the
previous night.

"We must find her," said the commissary, decisively. "Perhaps she knows
something. Ansell and you are the last two members of the Bonnemain
gang. Am I not correct?"

"Quite, m'sieur."

"I thought I was," and the commissary smiled. "Well," he added, "your
friend robbed you and threw you right into our hands. No wonder you are
ready to give him away."

The commissary well knew the ways of criminals, and was also aware with
what murderous hatred a man was regarded who robbed his accomplice.

"Do not discuss him, m'sieur," replied the man under arrest. "He has
placed me in your hands, and I am helpless. I suppose I shall only get
what I deserve," he added, in a low, pensive tone.

"You are reasonable, Carlier, and I'm glad to see it," responded the
commissary in a softer tone. "Your friend is an arrant blackguard to
have treated his wife as he has, and to have betrayed you because you
took her part. But you surely knew how unscrupulous he was, and also
that he was a most dangerous character. We know of one or two of his
exploits, and I may tell you that if he is caught, there are two charges
of murder against him."

"I know," replied the thie