s before me to be sick of life in, and I
have no heart left. Instead of being the boss of the hulks, I shall be a
Figaro of the law, and avenge Lucien. I can never be sure of demolishing
Corentin excepting in the skin of a police agent. And so long as I have
a man to devour, I shall still feel alive.--The profession a man follows
in the eyes of the world is a mere sham; the reality is in the idea!" he
added, striking his forehead.--"How much have we left in the cash-box?"
he asked.

"Nothing," said his aunt, dismayed by the man's tone and manner. "I gave
you all I had for the boy. La Romette has not more than twenty thousand
francs left in the business. I took everything from Madame Nourrisson;
she had about sixty thousand francs of her own. Oh! we are lying in
sheets that have been washed this twelve months past. That boy had all
the pals' blunt, our savings, and all old Nourrisson's."

"Making----?"

"Five hundred and sixty thousand."

"We have a hundred and fifty thousand which Paccard and Prudence will
pay us. I will tell you where to find two hundred thousand more. The
remainder will come to me out of Esther's money. We must repay old
Nourrisson. With Theodore, Paccard, Prudence, Nourrisson, and you, I
shall soon have the holy alliance I require.--Listen, now we are nearly
there----"

"Here are the three letters," said Jacqueline, who had finished unsewing
the lining of her gown.

"Quite right," said Jacques Collin, taking the three precious
documents--autograph letters on vellum paper, and still strongly
scented. "Theodore did the Nanterre job."

"Oh! it was he."

"Don't talk. Time is precious. He wanted to give the proceeds to a
little Corsican sparrow named Ginetta. You must set old Nourrisson to
find her; I will give you the necessary information in a letter which
Gault will give you. Come for it to the gate of the Conciergerie in two
hours' time. You must place the girl with a washerwoman, Godet's sister;
she must seem at home there. Godet and Ruffard were concerned with la
Pouraille in robbing and murdering the Crottats.

"The four hundred and fifty thousand francs are all safe, one-third
in la Gonore's cellar--la Pouraille's share; the second third in la
Gonore's bedroom, which is Ruffard's; and the rest is hidden in Godet's
sister's house. We will begin by taking a hundred and fifty thousand
francs out of la Pouraille's whack, a hundred thousand of Godet's, and a
hundred thousand of Ruffard's. A