for my
stupidity as long as I live!"

"Gently, gently!" interrupted old Tirauclair. "You are going too far,
my dear boy. Stupidity is not the proper word at all; you should say
carelessness, thoughtlessness. You are young--what else could one
expect? What is far less inexcusable is the manner in which you
conducted the chase, after the prisoner was allowed to escape."

"Alas!" murmured the young man, now completely discouraged; "did I
blunder in that?"

"Terribly, my son; and here is where I really blame you. What diabolical
influence induced you to follow May, step by step, like a common
policeman?"

This time Lecoq was stupefied. "Ought I to have allowed him to escape
me?" he inquired.

"No; but if I had been by your side in the gallery of the Odeon, when
you so clearly divined the prisoner's intentions, I should have said to
you: 'This fellow, friend Lecoq, will hasten to Madame Milner's house to
inform her of his escape. Let us run after him.' I shouldn't have tried
to prevent his seeing her, mind. But when he had left the Hotel de
Mariembourg, I should have added: 'Now, let him go where he chooses; but
attach yourself to Madame Milner; don't lose sight of her; cling to
her as closely as her own shadow, for she will lead you to the
accomplice--that is to say--to the solution of the mystery.'"

"That's the truth; I see it now."

"But instead of that, what did you do? You ran to the hotel, you
terrified the boy! When a fisherman has cast his bait and the fish are
swimming near, he doesn't sound a gong to frighten them all away!"

Thus it was that old Tabaret reviewed the entire course of investigation
and pursuit, remodeling it in accordance with his own method of
induction. Lecoq had originally had a magnificent inspiration. In his
first investigations he had displayed remarkable talent; and yet he had
not succeeded. Why? Simply because he had neglected the axiom with which
he started: "Always distrust what seems probable!"

But the young man listened to the oracle's "summing up" with divided
attention. A thousand projects were darting through his brain, and at
length he could no longer restrain himself. "You have saved me from
despair," he exclaimed, "I thought everything was lost; but I see that
my blunders can be repaired. What I neglected to do, I can do now; there
is still time. Haven't I the diamond earring, as well as various effects
belonging to the prisoner, still in my possession? Madame Milner