d in their presence ten years ago in a
cheap boarding-house, where they knew him under the name of Vautrin."

There was a short silence, while Madame Camusot sat thinking.

"Are you sure your man is Jacques Collin?" she asked.

"Positive," said the lawyer, "and so is the public prosecutor."

"Well, then, try to make some exposure at the Palais de Justice without
showing your claws too much under your furred cat's paws. If your man
is still in the secret cells, go straight to the Governor of the
Conciergerie and contrive to have the convict publicly identified.
Instead of behaving like a child, act like the ministers of police under
despotic governments, who invent conspiracies against the monarch to
have the credit of discovering them and making themselves indispensable.
Put three families in danger to have the glory of rescuing them."

"That luckily reminds me!" cried Camusot. "My brain is so bewildered
that I had quite forgotten an important point. The instructions to
place Jacques Collin in a private room were taken by Coquart to Monsieur
Gault, the Governor of the prison. Now, Bibi-Lupin, Jacques Collin's
great enemy, has taken steps to have three criminals, who know the man,
transferred from La Force to the Conciergerie; if he appears in the
prison-yard to-morrow, a terrific scene is expected----"

"Why?"

"Jacques Collin, my dear, was treasurer of the money owned by the
prisoners in the hulks, amounting to considerable sums; now, he is
supposed to have spent it all to maintain the deceased Lucien in
luxury, and he will be called to account. There will be such a battle,
Bibi-Lupin tells me, as will require the intervention of the warders,
and the secret will be out. Jacques Collin's life is in danger.

"Now, if I get to the Palais early enough I may record the evidence of
identity."

"Oh, if only his creditors should take him off your hands! You would
be thought such a clever fellow!--Do not go to Monsieur de Granville's
room; wait for him in his Court with that formidable great gun. It is a
loaded cannon turned on the three most important families of the Court
and Peerage. Be bold: propose to Monsieur de Granville that he should
relieve you of Jacques Collin by transferring him to La Force, where the
convicts know how to deal with those who betray them.

"I will go to the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, who will take me to the
Grandlieus. Possibly I may see Monsieur de Serizy. Trust me to sound the
alarm ever