Page:Memoirs of Vidocq, Volume 2.djvu/242

CHAPTER XXX.

The police-officers sent in pursuit of a celebrated robber—They are unable to discover him—Great anger of one of them—I promise another new-year's gift to the préfet—The yellow curtains and the hump-backed female—I am a good citizen—A messenger puts me on the right scent—The chest of the prefecture of police—I am a coal-man—The fright of a vintner and his wife—The little Norman in tears—The danger of giving Eau de Cologne—Carrying off of mademoiselle Tonneau—A search—The thief takes me for his mate—Thieves laugh at locksmiths—The jump from the window—The effects of a long slide, or broken stitches.

It has been seen how greatly I was thwarted by the infidelity of an agent, and I have long since learnt that there is no secret well kept but that which we tell to nobody; and sad experience more and more convinced me of the necessity of acting alone in all my operations, when I could do so; and I pursued this mode, as will be seen on a very important occasion.

After having undergone several sentences, two fugitives of the isles, named Goreau and Florentin, called Chatelain (governor), of whom I have already spoken, were detained at Bicêtre, as incorrigible robbers. Weary of confinement in these cells, where they were buried alive, they sent to M. Henry a letter, in which they offered to give such information as should lead to the apprehension of several of their comrades, who were daily perpetrating robberies in Paris. Fossard, sentenced for life, who had frequently escaped from the Bagnes, was the one marked out as the most dangerous. "He was," they wrote, "unequalled for intrepidity, and must be attacked with caution; for always armed to the teeth, he had resolved on blowing out the brains of that police-agent who should be hardy enough to attempt to apprehend him."

The heads of the police asked nothing better than to free the capital from such a daring thief, and their