remained tormented with the dread of their return. Would they not consider me as a milch-cow, and make the most of their power over me? Would they not be insatiable? Who could answer that their demands would be limited to my means? I already saw myself the banker of these gentlemen and many others; for it was to be presumed, that in conformity with the custom of these thieves, if I satisfied them, they would introduce their friends to me, who would also draw upon me, and I shall only be on good terms with them till my first refusal, and after that they would without doubt serve me a villanous trick. With such blood-hands let loose upon me, it may be imagined that I was but ill at ease! It must be allowed that my situation was a pleasant one, but it was crowned with a rencontre which made it still worse.
It may or may not be remembered that my wife, after her divorce, had married again, and I thought she was in the department of the Pas-de-Calais, entirely occupied in being happy and making her new husband so, when in the Rue du Petit-Carreau, I met her, face to face; and it was impossible to pass her, for she at once recognized me. I spoke to her, without alluding to the wrongs she had done me; and as the dilapidation of her dress evinced that she was not in very flourishing circumstances, I gave her some money. She perhaps imagined that it was an interested generosity, but it certainly was not. It never occurred to me that the ex-madame Vidocq would denounce me. In truth, in recurring at a later period to our old wrangles, I thought that my heart had only given me prudential suggestions, and then approved of what I had done; it appeared most proper that this female, in her distress, should rely on me for some assistance. Detained in or far from Paris, I was anxious to relieve her misery. This should have been a consideration to determine her to preserve silence; and I at least thought so. We shall see whether or not I was deceived in my expectation.
