out, always go through the Rue St Martin and the Boulevards. Mind, do not return; I will answer for all."
The pie, entrusted to a messenger of the Place Vendôme, and addressed to madame Vidocq, fell, as I had foreseen, into the hands of the agents, who allowed it to be delivered, after having read the dispatch; and thus I attained two ends at once, that of deceiving them, by persuading them that I was not in that quarter, and that of assuring Annette that I was out of danger. My expedient succeeded, and emboldened by my first success, I was more calm in making preparations for my retreat. Some money, which I had snatched by chance from my night-table, served to procure me pantaloons, stockings and shoes, a frock, and a blue cotton cap, intended to complete my disguise. When supper-hour came, I left the room with all the family, carrying on my head, as a precaution, a large dish of harrico mutton, the appetizing fumes of which sufficiently explained the intent of our excursion. My heart did not beat less anxiously when I met, face to face on the second floor, a police-officer, whom I did not at first perceive, as he was ensconced in a corner. "Put out your candle," cried he, abruptly to Fossé. "Why?" replied he, who had only taken a light that it might not awaken suspicion. "Go along, and ask no questions," said the fellow, blowing out the candle himself. I could have hugged him! In the passage we met several of his comrades, who, more polite than he, made way for us to pass. At length we got out, and the moment we turned the angle of the street, Fossé took the dish from me, and we parted. That I might not attract attention, I walked very slowly to the Rue des Fontaines; but when once there, I did not amuse myself, as the Germans say, in counting my buttons, but directed my steps towards the Boulevard of the Temple, and running rapidly, reached the Rue de Bondy, without thinking of asking where I was.
However, it was not enough to have escaped a first
