d not recognize the wine-merchant's wife, both she and
her husband recognized him. The inquiry had proved, by the evidence of
several witnesses, that Theodore had been living at Nanterre for about
a month; he had worked at a mason's, his face whitened with plaster, and
his clothes very shabby. At Nanterre the lad was supposed to be about
eighteen years old, for the whole month he must have been nursing that
brat (nourri ce poupon, i.e. hatching the crime).

The lawyers thought he must have had accomplices. The chimney-pots were
measured and compared with the size of Manon la Blonde's body to see if
she could have got in that way; but a child of six could not have passed
up or down those red-clay pipes, which, in modern buildings, take
the place of the vast chimneys of old-fashioned houses. But for this
singular and annoying difficulty, Theodore would have been executed
within a week. The prison chaplain, it has been seen, could make nothing
of him.

All this business, and the name of Calvi, must have escaped the notice
of Jacques Collin, who, at the time, was absorbed in his single-handed
struggle with Contenson, Corentin, and Peyrade. It had indeed been a
point with _Trompe-la-Mort_ to forget as far as possible his chums
and all that had to do with the law courts; he dreaded a meeting which
should bring him face to face with a pal who might demand an account of
his boss which Collin could not possibly render.

The governor of the prison went forthwith to the public prosecutor's
court, where he found the Attorney-General in conversation with Monsieur
de Granville, who had spent the whole night at the Hotel de Serizy, was,
in consequence of this important case, obliged to give a few hours
to his duties, though overwhelmed with fatigue and grief; for the
physicians could not yet promise that the Countess would recover her
sanity.

After speaking a few words to the governor, Monsieur de Granville took
the warrant from the attorney and placed it in Gault's hands.

"Let the matter proceed," said he, "unless some extraordinary
circumstances should arise. Of this you must judge. I trust to your
judgment. The scaffold need not be erected till half-past ten, so you
still have an hour. On such an occasion hours are centuries, and
many things may happen in a century. Do not allow him to think he is
reprieved; prepare the man for execution if necessary; and if nothing
comes of that, give Sanson the warrant at half-past nin