he
employment of various literary men, as well as of a physician, and
notary; that he was familiar with the duties that would be required
of him at the Palais de Justice, and that he knew how to dust papers
without disarranging them. In short, he produced such a favorable
impression that, although M. Segmuller reserved twenty-four hours in
which to make further inquiries, he drew a twenty-franc piece from his
pocket on the spot and tendered it to the Norman valet as the first
instalment of his wages.

But instead of pocketing the proffered coin, the man, with a sudden
change of voice and attitude, burst into a hearty laugh, exclaiming: "Do
you think, sir, that May will recognize me?"

"Monsieur Lecoq!" cried the astonished magistrate.

"The same, sir; and I have come to tell you that if you are ready to
release May, all my arrangements are now completed."

XX

When one of the investigating magistrates of the Tribunal of the Seine
wishes to examine a person confined in one of the Paris prisons,
he sends by his messenger to the governor of that particular jail a
so-called "order of extraction," a concise, imperative formula, which
reads as follows: "The keeper of ---- prison will give into the custody
of the bearer of this order the prisoner known as ----, in order that
he may be brought before us in our cabinet at the Palais de Justice." No
more, no less, a signature, a seal, and everybody is bound to obey.

But from the moment of receiving this order until the prisoner is
again incarcerated, the governor of the prison is relieved of all
responsibility. Whatever may happen, his hands are clear. Minute
precautions are taken, however, so that a prisoner may not escape during
his journey from the prison to the Palais. He is carefully locked up in
a compartment of one of the lugubrious vehicles that may be often
seen waiting on the Quai de l'Horloge, or in the courtyard of the
Sainte-Chapelle. This van conveys him to the Palais, and while he is
awaiting examination, he is immured in one of the cells of the gloomy
jail, familiarly known as "la Souriciere" or the "mouse-trap." On
entering and leaving the van the prisoner is surrounded by guards; and
on the road, in addition to the mounted troopers who always accompany
these vehicles, there are prison warders or linesmen of the Garde de
Paris installed in the passage between the compartments of the van
and seated on the box with the driver. Hence, the boldest crimi