prisoners
must be hastily sketched in. Selerier, alias l'Auvergnat, alias le Pere
Ralleau, called le Rouleur, alias Fil-de-Soie--he had thirty names, and
as many passports--will henceforth be spoken of by this name only, as he
was called by no other among the swell-mob. This profound philosopher,
who saw a spy in the sham priest, was a brawny fellow of about five
feet eight, whose muscles were all marked by strange bosses. He had
an enormous head in which a pair of half-closed eyes sparkled like
fire--the eyes of a bird of prey, with gray, dull, skinny eyelids. At
first glance his face resembled that of a wolf, his jaws were so broad,
powerful, and prominent; but the cruelty and even ferocity suggested by
this likeness were counterbalanced by the cunning and eagerness of his
face, though it was scarred by the smallpox. The margin of each scar
being sharply cut, gave a sort of wit to his expression; it was seamed
with ironies. The life of a criminal--a life of danger and thirst, of
nights spent bivouacking on the quays and river banks, on bridges
and streets, and the orgies of strong drink by which successes are
celebrated--had laid, as it were, a varnish over these features.
Fil-de-Soie, if seen in his undisguised person, would have been marked
by any constable or gendarme as his prey; but he was a match for Jacques
Collin in the arts of make-up and dress. Just now Fil-de-Soie, in
undress, like a great actor who is well got up only on the stage, wore a
sort of shooting jacket bereft of buttons, and whose ripped button-holes
showed the white lining, squalid green slippers, nankin trousers now
a dingy gray, and on his head a cap without a peak, under which an old
bandana was tied, streaky with rents, and washed out.

Le Biffon was a complete contrast to Fil-de-Soie. This famous robber,
short, burly, and fat, but active, with a livid complexion, and deep-set
black eyes, dressed like a cook, standing squarely on very bandy
legs, was alarming to behold, for in his countenance all the features
predominated that are most typical of the carnivorous beast.

Fil-de-Soie and le Biffon were always wheedling la Pouraille, who had
lost all hope. The murderer knew that he would be tried, sentenced,
and executed within four months. Indeed, Fil-de-Soie and le Biffon,
la Pouraille's chums, never called him anything but _le Chanoine de
l'Abbaye de Monte-a-Regret_ (a grim paraphrase for a man condemned to
the guillotine). It is easy to un