if his devotion will
withstand the prospect of hard labor in the penitentiary. And that
is what awaits him, if he is silent, and if he thus accepts the
responsibility of aiding and abetting the fugitive's escape. Oh! I've no
fears--M. Segmuller will know how to draw the truth out of him."

So speaking, Lecoq brandished his clinched fist with a threatening
air and then, in calmer tones, he added: "But we must go to the
station-house where the accomplice was removed. I wish to question him a
little."

XXII

It was six o'clock, and the dawn was just breaking when Father Absinthe
and his companion reached the station-house, where they found the
superintendent seated at a small table, making out his report. He
did not move when they entered, failing to recognize them under their
disguises. But when they mentioned their names, he rose with evident
cordiality, and held out his hand.

"Upon my word!" said he, "I congratulate you on your capture last
night."

Father Absinthe and Lecoq exchanged an anxious look. "What capture?"
they both asked in a breath.

"Why, that individual you sent me last night so carefully bound."

"Well, what about him?"

The superintendent burst into a hearty laugh. "So you are ignorant of
your good fortune," said he. "Ah! luck has favored you, and you will
receive a handsome reward."

"Pray tell us what we've captured?" asked Father Absinthe, impatiently.

"A scoundrel of the deepest dye, an escaped convict, who has been
missing for three months. You must have a description of him in your
pocket--Joseph Couturier, in short."

On hearing these words, Lecoq became so frightfully pale that Father
Absinthe, fearing he was going to faint, raised his arms to prevent
his falling. A chair stood close by, however, and on this Lecoq allowed
himself to drop. "Joseph Couturier," he faltered, evidently unconscious
of what he was saying. "Joseph Couturier! an escaped convict!"

The superintendent certainly did not understand Lecoq's agitation any
better than Father Absinthe's discomfited air.

"You have reason to be proud of your work; your success will make a
sensation this morning," he repeated. "You have captured a famous prize.
I can see Gevrol's nose now when he hears the news. Only yesterday
he was boasting that he alone was capable of securing this dangerous
rascal."

After such an irreparable failure as that which had overtaken Lecoq,
the unintended irony of these compliments was bit