into his hand, and
examined it curiously.

"Yes, it is gold, sure enough!" said he, "and a coat-of-arms on the
purse! The scoundrel! How clever he is! What an all-round villain! He
does us all brown----and all the time! He ought to be shot down like a
dog!"

"Why, what's the matter?" asked the clerk, taking back the money.

"The matter! Why, the hussy stole it!" cried Bibi-Lupin, stamping with
rage on the flags of the gateway.

The words produced a great sensation among the spectators, who were
standing at a little distance from Monsieur Sanson. He, too, was still
standing, his back against the large stove in the middle of the vaulted
hall, awaiting the order to crop the felon's hair and erect the scaffold
on the Place de Greve.

On re-entering the yard, Jacques Collin went towards his chums at a pace
suited to a frequenter of the galleys.

"What have you on your mind?" said he to la Pouraille.

"My game is up," said the man, whom Jacques Collin led into a corner.
"What I want now is a pal I can trust."

"What for?"

La Pouraille, after telling the tale of all his crimes, but in thieves'
slang, gave an account of the murder and robbery of the two Crottats.

"You have my respect," said Jacques Collin. "The job was well done; but
you seem to me to have blundered afterwards."

"In what way?"

"Well, having done the trick, you ought to have had a Russian
passport, have made up as a Russian prince, bought a fine coach with a
coat-of-arms on it, have boldly deposited your money in a bank, have got
a letter of credit on Hamburg, and then have set out posting to Hamburg
with a valet, a ladies' maid, and your mistress disguised as a Russian
princess. At Hamburg you should have sailed for Mexico. A chap of
spirit, with two hundred and eighty thousand francs in gold, ought to be
able to do what he pleases and go where he pleases, flathead!"

"Oh yes, you have such notions because you are the boss. Your nut is
always square on your shoulders--but I----"

"In short, a word of good advice in your position is like broth to a
dead man," said Jacques Collin, with a serpentlike gaze at his old pal.

"True enough!" said la Pouraille, looking dubious. "But give me the
broth, all the same. If it does not suit my stomach, I can warm my feet
in it----"

"Here you are nabbed by the Justice, with five robberies and three
murders, the latest of them those of two rich and respectable folks....
Now, juries do not like to see r