of excitement
could at this moment be easily discerned. The time had come to strike
a decisive blow, and to judge of the value of his system of induction.
Instead, therefore, of replying to the prisoner, he turned to the
gendarmes who were present and said to them,--

"Take the prisoner into the next room. Strip him, and examine all his
clothes carefully: see to it that there is nothing hid in the lining."

The gendarmes advanced to seize the prisoner, when he suddenly jumped
up, and said in a tone of ill-constrained rage,--

"No need for that! I have three one thousand-franc-notes sewn into the
lining of my trousers."

This time the pride of success got completely the better of the
imperturbable coldness of the magistrate. He uttered a low cry of
satisfaction, and could not refrain from casting a look of triumph at
Daniel and the doctor, which said clearly,--

"Well? What did I tell you?"

It was for a second only; the next instant his features resumed their
icy immobility; and, turning to the accused, he said in a tone of
command,--

"Hand me the notes!"

Crochard did not stir; but his livid countenance betrayed the fierce
suffering he endured. Certainly, at this moment, he did not play a part.
To take from him his three thousand francs, the price of the meanest and
most execrable crime; the three thousand francs for the sake of which he
had risked the scaffold,--this was like tearing his entrails from him.

Like an enraged brute who sees that the enemy is all-powerful, he
gathered all his strength, and, with a furious look, glanced around the
room to see if he could escape anywhere, asking himself, perhaps, upon
which of the men he ought to throw himself for the purpose.

"The notes!" repeated the inexorable lawyer. "Must I order force to be
used?"

Convinced of the uselessness of resistance, and of the folly of any
attempt at escape, the wretch hung his head.

"But I cannot undo the seams of my trousers with my nails," he said.
"Let them give me a knife or a pair of scissors."

They were careful not to do so. But, at a sign given by the magistrate,
one of the gendarmes approached, and, drawing a penknife from his
pocket, ripped the seam at the place which the prisoner pointed out.
A genuine convulsion of rage seized the assassin, when a little paper
parcel appeared, folded up, and compressed to the smallest possible
size. By a very curious phenomenon, which is, however, quite frequently
observed in