fe is possible under
such conditions? To live, the convict must work, for he does not come
out of prison with a fortune.

"You arrange matters so that he is plainly ticketed, recognized, hedged
round, and then you fancy that his fellow-citizens will trust him, when
society and justice and the world around him do not. You condemn him to
starvation or crime. He cannot get work, and is inevitably dragged into
his old ways, which lead to the scaffold.

"Thus, while earnestly wishing to give up this struggle with the law, I
could find no place for myself under the sun. One course alone is open
to me, that is to become the servant of the power that crushes us; and
as soon as this idea dawned on me, the Power of which I spoke was shown
in the clearest light. Three great families are at my mercy. Do not
suppose I am thinking of blackmail--blackmail is the meanest form of
murder. In my eyes it is baser villainy than murder. The murderer needs,
at any rate, atrocious courage. And I practise what I preach; for the
letters which are my safe-conduct, which allow me to address you thus,
and for the moment place me on an equality with you--I, Crime, and you,
Justice--those letters are in your power. Your messenger may fetch them,
and they will be given up to him.

"I ask no price for them; I do not sell them. Alas! Monsieur le Comte, I
was not thinking of myself when I preserved them; I thought that Lucien
might some day be in danger! If you cannot agree to my request, my
courage is out; I hate life more than enough to make me blow out my own
brains and rid you of me!--Or, with a passport, I can go to America and
live in the wilderness. I have all the characteristics of a savage.

"These are the thoughts that came to me in the night.--Your clerk, no
doubt, carried you a message I sent by him. When I saw what precautions
you took to save Lucien's memory from any stain, I dedicated my life
to you--a poor offering, for I no longer cared for it; it seemed to
me impossible without the star that gave it light, the happiness that
glorified it, the thought that gave it meaning, the prosperity of the
young poet who was its sun--and I determined to give you the three
packets of letters----"

Monsieur de Granville bowed his head.

"I went down into the prison-yard, and there I found the persons guilty
of the Nanterre crime, as well as my little chain companion within an
inch of the chopper as an involuntary accessory after the fact,"
Jacq