LEGAL METAMORPHOSES.
The respectable agent of a rather eminent French house arrived one
morning in great apparent distress at Scotland Yard, and informed the
superintendent that he had just sustained a great, almost ruinous loss,
in notes of the Bank of England and commercial bills of Exchange,
besides a considerable sum in gold. He had, it appeared, been absent in
Paris about ten days, and on his return but a few hours previously,
discovered that his iron chest had been completely rifled during his
absence. False keys must have been used, as the empty chest was found
locked, and no sign of violence could be observed. He handed in full
written details of the property carried off, the numbers of the notes,
and every other essential particular. The first step taken was to
ascertain if any of the notes had been tendered at the bank. Not one had
been presented; payment was of course stopped, and advertisements
descriptive of the bills of exchange, as well as of the notes, were
inserted in the evening and following morning papers. A day or two
afterwards, a considerable reward was offered for such information as
might lead to the apprehension of the offenders. No result followed; and
spite of the active exertions of the officers employed, not the
slightest clue could be obtained to the perpetrators of the robbery. The
junior partner in the firm, M. Bellebon, in the meantime arrived in
England, to assist in the investigation, and was naturally extremely
urgent in his inquiries; but the mystery which enveloped the affair
remained impenetrable. At last a letter, bearing the St. Martin le Grand
post-mark, was received by the agent, M. Alexandre le Breton, which
contained an offer to surrender the whole of the plunder, with the
exception of the gold, for the sum of one thousand pounds. The property
which had been abstracted was more than ten times that sum, and had been
destined by the French house to meet some heavy liabilities falling due
in London very shortly. Le Breton had been ordered to pay the whole
amount into Hoare's to the account of the firm, and had indeed been
severely blamed for not having done so as he received the different
notes and bills; and it was on going to the chest immediately on his
return from Paris, for the purpose of fulfilling the peremptory
instructions he had received, that M. le Breton discovered the robbery.
The letter went on to state that should the offer be acceded to, a
mystically worded advertisement--of which a copy was enclosed--was to be
inserted in the "Times," and then a mode would be suggested for
safety--in the interest of the thieves of course--carrying the agreement
into effect. M. Bellebon was half-inclined to close with this proposal,
in order to save the credit of the house, which would be destroyed
unless its acceptances, now due in about fourteen days, could be met;
and without the stolen moneys and bills of exchange, this was, he
feared, impossible. The superintendent, to whom M. Bellebon showed the
letter, would not hear of compliance with such a demand, and threatened
a prosecution for composition of felony if M. Bellebon persisted in
doing so. The advertisement was, however, inserted, and an immediate
reply directed that le Breton, the agent, should present himself at the
old Manor-house, Green Lanes, Newington, unattended, at four o'clock on
the following afternoon, bringing with him of course the stipulated sum
_in gold_. It was added, that to prevent any possible treason
(_trahison_, the letter was written in French,) Le Breton would find a
note for him at the tavern, informing him of the spot--a solitary one,
and far away from any place where an ambush could be concealed--where
the business would be concluded, and to which he must proceed
unaccompanied, and on foot! This proposal was certainly quite as
ingenious as it was cool, and the chance of outwitting such cunning
rascals seemed exceedingly doubtful. A very tolerable scheme was,
however, hit upon, and M. le Breton proceeded at the appointed hour to
the Old Manor-House. No letter or message had been left for him, and
nobody obnoxious to the slightest suspicion could be seen near or about
the tavern. On the following day another missive arrived, which stated
that the writer was quite aware of the trick which the police had
intended playing him, and he assured M. Bellebon that such a line of
conduct was as unwise as it would be fruitless, inasmuch as if "good
faith" was not observed, the securities and notes would be inexorably
destroyed or otherwise disposed of, and the house of Bellebon and
Company be consequently exposed to the shame and ruin of bankruptcy.
Just at this crises of the affair I arrived in town from my unsuccessful
hunt after the fugitives who had slipped through my fingers at Plymouth.
The superintendent laughed heartily, not so much at the trick by which I
had been duped, as at the angry mortification I did not affect to
conceal. He presently added, "I have been wishing for your return, in
order to intrust you with a tangled affair, in which success will amply
compensate for such a disappointment. You know French too, which is
fortunate; for the gentleman who has been plundered understands little
or no English." He then related the foregoing particulars, with other
apparently slight circumstances; and after a long conversation with him,
I retired to think the matter over, and decide upon the likeliest mode
of action. After much cogitation, I determined to see M. Bellebon
_alone_, and for this purpose I despatched the waiter of a tavern
adjacent to his lodgings, with a note expressive of my wish to see him
instantly on pressing business. He was at home, and immediately acceded
to my request. I easily introduced myself; and after about a quarter of
an hour's conference, said carelessly--for I saw he was too heedless of
speech, too quick and frank, to be intrusted with the dim suspicions
which certain trifling indices had suggested to me--"Is Monsieur le
Breton at the office where the robbery was committed?"
"No: he is gone to Greenwich on business, and will not return till late
in the evening. But if you wish to re-examine the place, I can of course
enable you to do so."
"It will, I think, be advisable; and you will, if you please," I added,
as we emerged into the street, "permit me to take you by the arm, in
order that the _official_ character of my visit may not be suspected by
any one there."
He laughingly complied, and we arrived at the house arm in arm. We were
admitted by an elderly woman; and there was a young man--a moustached
clerk--seated at a desk in an inner room writing. He eyed me for a
moment, somewhat askance I thought, but I gave him no opportunity for a
distinct view of my features; and I presently handed M. Bellebon a card,
on which I had contrived to write, unobserved, "send away the clerk."
This was more naturally done than I anticipated; and in answer to M.
Bellebon's glance of inquiry, I merely said, "that as I did not wish to
be known there as a police-officer, it was essential that the minute
search I was about to make should be without witnesses." He agreed; and
the woman was also sent away upon a distant errand. Every conceivable
place did I ransack; every scrap of paper that had writing on it I
eagerly perused. At length the search was over, apparently without
result.
"You are quite sure, Monsieur Bellebon, as you informed the
superintendent, that Monsieur le Breton has no female relations or
acquaintances in this country?"
"Positive," he replied. "I have made the most explicit inquiries on the
subject both of the clerk Dubarle and of the woman-servant."
Just then the clerk returned, out of breath with haste I noticed, and I
took my leave without even now affording the young gentleman so clear a
view of my face as he was evidently anxious to obtain.
"No female acquaintance!" thought I, as I re-entered the private room of
the tavern I had left an hour before. "From whom came, then, these
scraps of perfumed note-paper I have found in his desk I wonder?" I sat
down and endeavored to piece them out, but after considerable trouble,
satisfied myself that they were parts of different notes, and so small,
unfortunately, as to contain nothing which separately afforded any
information except that they were all written by one hand, and that a
female one.
About two hours after this I was sauntering along in the direction of
Stoke-Newington, where I was desirous of making some inquiries as to
another matter, and had passed the Kingslaw Gate a few hundred yards,
when a small discolored printed handbill, lying in a haberdasher's shop
window, arrested my attention. It ran thus:--"Two guineas reward.--Lost,
an Italian greyhound. The tip of its tail has been chopped off, and it
answers to the name of Fidèle." Underneath, the reader was told in
writing to "inquire within."
"Fidèle!" I mentally exclaimed. "Any relation to M. le Breton's fair
correspondent's Fidèle, I wonder?" In a twinkling my pocket-book was
out, and I reperused by the gas-light on one of the perfumed scraps of
paper the following portion of a sentence, "_ma pauvre Fidèle est
per_"----. The bill, I observed, was dated nearly three weeks
previously. I forthwith entered the shop, and pointing to the bill, said
I knew a person who had found such a dog as was there advertised for.
The woman at the counter said she was glad to hear it, as the lady,
formerly a customer of theirs, was much grieved at the animal's loss.
"What is the lady's name?" I asked.
"I can't rightly pronounce the name," was the reply. "It is French, I
believe; but here it is, with the address, in the day-book, written by
herself."
I eagerly read--"Madame Levasseur, Oak Cottage; about one mile on the
road from Edmonton to Southgate." The hand-writing greatly resembled
that on the scraps I had taken from M. le Breton's desk; and the writer
was French too! Here were indications of a trail which might lead to
unhoped-for success, and I determined to follow it up vigorously. After
one or two other questions, I left the shop, promising to send the dog
to the lady the next day. My business at Stoke-Newington was soon
accomplished. I then hastened westward to the establishment of a
well-known dog-fancier, and procured the loan, at a reasonable price, of
an ugly Italian hound: the requisite loss of the tip of its tail was
very speedily accomplished, and so quickly healed, that the newness of
the excision could not be suspected. I arrived at the lady's residence
about twelve o'clock on the following day, so thoroughly disguised as a
vagabond Cockney dog-stealer, that my own wife, when I entered the
breakfast parlor just previous to starting, screamed with alarm and
surprise. The mistress of Oak Cottage was at home, but indisposed, and
the servant said she would take the dog to her, though, if I would take
it out of the basket, she herself could tell me if it was Fidèle or not.
I replied that I would only show the dog to the lady, and would not
trust it out of my hands. This message was carried up stairs, and after
waiting some time outside--for the woman, with natural precaution,
considering my appearance, for the safety of the portable articles lying
about, had closed the street-door in my face--I was readmitted, desired
to wipe my shoes carefully, and walk up. Madame Levasseur, a showy
looking woman, though not over-refined in speech or manners, was seated
on a sofa, in vehement expectation of embracing her dear Fidèle; but my
vagabond appearance so startled her, that she screamed loudly for her
husband, M. Levasseur. This gentleman, a fine, tall, whiskered,
moustached person, hastened into the apartment half-shaved, and with his
razor in his hand.
"Qu'est ce qu'il y a donc?" he demanded.
"Mais voyez cette horreur là," replied the lady, meaning me, not the
dog, which I was slowly emancipating from the basket-kennel. The
gentleman laughed; and reassured by the presence of her husband, Madame
Levasseur's anxieties concentrated themselves upon the expected Fidèle.
"Mais, mon Dieu!" she exclaimed again as I displayed the aged beauty I
had brought for her inspection, "why, that is not Fidèle!"
"Not, marm?" I answered, with quite innocent surprise. "Vy, ere is her
wery tail;" and I held up the mutilated extremity for her closer
inspection. The lady was not, however, to be convinced even by that
evidence; and as the gentleman soon became impatient of my persistence,
and hinted very intelligibly that he had a mind to hasten my passage
down stairs with the toe of his boot, I, having made the best possible
use of my eyes during the short interview, scrambled up the dog and
basket, and departed.
"No female relative or acquaintance hasn't he?" was my exulting thought
as I gained the road. "And yet if that is not M. le Breton's picture
between those of the husband and wife, I am a booby, and a blind one." I
no longer in the least doubted that I had struck a brilliant trail; and
I could have shouted with exultation, so eager was I not only to
retrieve my, as I fancied, somewhat tarnished reputation for activity
and skill, but to extricate the plundered firm from their terrible
difficulties; the more especially as young M. Bellebon, with the
frankness of his age and nation, had hinted to me--and the suddenly
tremulous light of his fine expressive eyes testified to the acuteness
of his apprehensions--that his marriage with a long-loved and amiable
girl depended upon his success in saving the credit of his house.
That same evening, about nine o'clock, M. Levasseur, expensively, but
withal snobbishly attired, left Oak Cottage, walked to Edmonton, hailed
a cab, and drove off rapidly towards town, followed by an English swell
as stylishly and snobbishly dressed, wigged, whiskered, and moustached
as himself: this English swell being no other than myself, as prettily
metamorphosed and made up for the part I intended playing as heart could
wish.
M. Levasseur descended at the end of the Quadrant, Regent Street, and
took his way to Vine Street, leading out of that celebrated
thoroughfare. I followed; and observing him enter a public house,
unhesitatingly did the same. It was a house of call and general
rendezvous for foreign servants out of place. Valets, couriers, cooks,
of many varieties of shade, nation, and respectability, were assembled
there, smoking, drinking, and playing at an insufferably noisy game,
unknown, I believe, to Englishmen, and which must, I think, have been
invented in sheer despair of cards, dice, or other implements of
gambling. The sole instruments of play were the gamester's fingers, of
which the two persons playing suddenly and simultaneously uplifted as
many, or as few, as they pleased, each player alternately calling a
number; and if he named precisely how many fingers were held up by
himself and opponent, he marked a point. The hubbub of cries--"cinq,"
"neuf," "dix," &c.--was deafening. The players--almost every body in the
large room--were too much occupied to notice our entrance; and M.
Levasseur and myself seated ourselves, and called for something to
drink, without, I was glad to see, exciting the slightest observation.
M. Levasseur, I soon perceived, was an intimate acquaintance of many
there; and somewhat to my surprise, for he spoke French very well, I
found that he was a Swiss. His name was, I therefore concluded, assumed.
Nothing positive rewarded my watchfulness that evening; but I felt quite
sure Levasseur had come there with the expectation of meeting some one,
as he did not play, and went away about half past eleven o'clock with an
obviously discontented air. The following night it was the same; but the
next, who should peer into the room about half past ten, and look
cautiously round, but M. Alexandre le Breton! The instant the eyes of
the friends met, Levasseur rose and went out. I hesitated to follow,
lest such a movement might excite suspicion; and it was well I did not,
as they both presently returned, and seated themselves close by my side.
The anxious, haggard countenance of Le Breton--who had, I should have
before stated, been privately pointed out to me by one of the force
early on the morning I visited Oak Cottage--struck me forcibly,
especially in contrast with that of Levasseur, which wore only an
expression of malignant and ferocious triumph, slightly dashed by
temporary disappointment. Le Breton stayed but a short time; and the
only whispered words I caught were--"He has, I fear, some suspicion."
The anxiety and impatience of M. Bellebon whilst this was going on
became extreme, and he sent me note after note--the only mode of
communication I would permit--expressive of his consternation at the
near approach of the time when the engagements of his house would arrive
at maturity, without anything having in the meantime been accomplished.
I pitied him greatly, and after some thought and hesitation, resolved
upon a new and bolder game. By affecting to drink a great deal,
occasionally playing, and in other ways exhibiting a reckless,
devil-may-care demeanor, I had striven to insinuate myself into the
confidence and companionship of Levasseur, but hitherto without much
effect; and although once I could see, startled by a casual hint I
dropped to another person--one of ours--just sufficiently loud for him
to hear--that I knew a sure and safe market for stopped Bank of England
notes, the cautious scoundrel quickly subsided into his usual guarded
reserve. He evidently doubted me, and it was imperatively necessary to
remove those doubts. This was at last effectually, and, I am vain enough
to think, cleverly done. One evening a rakish looking man, who
ostentatiously and repeatedly declared himself to be Mr. Trelawney of
Conduit Street, and who was evidently three parts intoxicated, seated
himself directly in front of us, and with much braggart impudence
boasted of his money, at the same time displaying a pocket-book, which
seemed pretty full of Bank of England notes. There were only a few
persons present in the room besides us, and they were at the other end
of the room. Levasseur, I saw, noticed with considerable interest the
look of greed and covetousness which I fixed on that same pocket-book.
At length the stranger rose to depart. I also hurried up and slipped
after him, and was quietly and slyly followed by Levasseur. After
proceeding about a dozen paces I looked furtively about, but _not_
behind; robbed Mr. Trelawney of his pocket-book, which he had placed in
one of the tails of his coat; crossed over the street, and walked
hurriedly away, still, I could hear, followed by Levasseur. I entered
another public-house, strode into an empty back-room, and was just in
the act of examining my prize, when in stepped Levasseur. He looked
triumphant as Lucifer, as he clapped me on the shoulder, and said in a
low exulting voice, "I saw that pretty trick, Williams, and can, if I
like, transport you!"
My consternation was naturally extreme, and Levasseur laughed immensely
at the terror he excited. "Soyez tranquille," he said at last, at the
same time ringing the bell: "I shall not hurt you." He ordered some
wine, and after the waiter had fulfilled the order and left the room,
said, "Those notes of Mr. Trelawney's will of course be stopped in the
morning, but I think I once heard you say you knew of a market for such
articles?"
I hesitated, coyly unwilling to further commit myself. "Come, come,"
resumed Levasseur in a still low but menacing tone, "no nonsense. I have
you now; you are, in fact, entirely in my power; but be candid, and you
are safe. Who is your friend?"
"He is not in town now," I stammered.
"Stuff--humbug! I have myself some notes to change. There, now we
understand each other. What does he give, and how does he dispose of
them?"
"He gives about a third generally, and gets rid of them abroad. They
reach the Bank through _bona fide_ and innocent olders, and in that case
the Bank is of course bound to pay."
"Is that the law also with respect to bills of exchange?"
"Yes, to be sure it is."
"And is _amount_ of any consequence to your friend?"
"None, I believe, whatever."
"Well, then, you must introduce me to him."
"No, that I can't," I hurriedly answered. "He wont deal with strangers."
"You _must_, I tell you, or I will call an officer." Terrified by this
threat, I muttered that his name was Levi Samuel.
"And where does Levi Samuel live?"
"That," I replied, "I _cannot_ tell; but I know how to communicate with
him."
Finally, it was settled by Levasseur that I should dine at Oak Cottage
the next day but one, and that I should arrange with Samuel to meet us
there immediately afterwards. The notes and bills he had to dispose of,
I was to inform Samuel, amounted to nearly twelve thousand pounds, and I
was promised £500 for effecting the bargain.
"Five hundred pounds, remember, Williams," said Levasseur as we parted;
"or, if you deceive me, transportation! You can prove nothing regarding
_me_, whereas, I could settle _you_ off hand."
The superintendent and I had a long and rather anxious conference the
next day. We agreed that, situate as Oak Cottage was, in an open space
away from any other building, it would not be advisable that any officer
except myself and the pretended Samuel should approach the place. We
also agreed as to the probability of such clever rogues having so placed
the notes and bills that they could be consumed or otherwise destroyed
on the slightest alarm, and that the open arrest of Levasseur, and a
search of Oak Cottage, would in all likelihood prove fruitless. "There
will be only two of them," I said in reply to a remark of the
superintendent as to the somewhat dangerous game I was risking with
powerful and desperate men, "even should Le Breton be there; and surely
Jackson and I, aided by the surprise and our pistols, will be too many
for them." Little more was said, the superintendent wished us luck, and
I sought out and instructed Jackson.
I will confess that, on setting out the next day to keep my appointment,
I felt considerable anxiety. Levasseur _might_ have discovered my
vocation, and set this trap for my destruction. Yet that was hardly
possible. At all events, whatever the danger, it was necessary to face
it; and having cleaned and loaded my pistols with unusual care, and bade
my wife a more than usually earnest farewell, which, by the way, rather
startled her, I set off, determined, as we used to say in Yorkshire, "to
win the horse or lose the saddle."
I arrived in good time at Oak Cottage, and found my host in the highest
possible spirits. Dinner was ready, he said, but it would be necessary
to wait a few minutes for the two friends he expected.
"_Two_ friends!" I exclaimed, really startled. "You told me last evening
there was to be only one, a Monsieur le Breton."
"True," rejoined Levasseur carelessly; "but I had forgotten that another
party as much interested as ourselves would like to be present, and
invite himself, if I did not. But there will be enough for us all, never
fear," he added with a coarse laugh, "especially as Madame Levasseur
does not dine with us."
At this moment a loud knock was heard. "Here they are!" exclaimed
Levasseur, and hastened out to meet them. I peeped through the blind,
and to my great alarm saw that Le Breton was accompanied by the clerk
Dubarle! My first impulse was to seize my pistols and rush out of the
house; but calmer thoughts soon succeeded, and the improbability that a
plan had been laid to entrap me recurred forcibly. Still, should the
clerk recognize me? The situation was undoubtedly a critical one; but I
was in for it, and must therefore brave the matter out in the best way I
could.
Presently a conversation, carried on in a loud, menacing tone in the
next room between Levasseur and the new comers, arrested my attention,
and I softly approached the door to listen. Le Breton, I soon found, was
but half a villain, and was extremely anxious that the property should
not be disposed of till at least another effort had been made at
negotiation. The others, now that a market for the notes and securities
had been obtained, were determined to avail themselves of it, and
immediately leave the country. The almost agonized intreaties of Le
Breton that they would not utterly ruin the house he had betrayed, were
treated with scornful contempt, and he was at length silenced by their
brutal menaces. Le Breton, I further learned, was a cousin of Madame
Levasseur, whose husband had first pillaged him at play, and then
suggested the crime which had been committed as the sole means of
concealing the defalcations of which he, Levasseur, had been the
occasion and promoter.
After a brief delay, all three entered the dining-room, and a slight
but significant start which the clerk Dubarle gave, as Levasseur, with
mock ceremony, introduced me, made my heart, as folk say, leap into my
mouth. His half-formed suspicions seemed, however, to be dissipated for
the moment by the humorous account Levasseur gave him of the robbery of
Mr. Trelawney, and we sat down to a very handsome dinner.
A more uncomfortable one, albeit, I never assisted at. The furtive looks
of Dubarle, who had been only partially reassured, grew more and more
inquisitive and earnest. Fortunately Levasseur was in rollicking spirits
and humor, and did not heed the unquiet glances of the young man; and as
for Le Breton, he took little notice of anybody. At last this terrible
dinner was over, and the wine was pushed briskly round. I drank much
more freely than usual, partly with a view to calm my nerves, and partly
to avoid remark. It was nearly the time for the Jew's appearance, when
Dubarle, after a scrutinizing and somewhat imperious look at my face,
said abruptly, "I think, Monsieur Williams, I have seen you somewhere
before?"
"Very likely," I replied with as much indifference as I could assume.
"Many persons have seen me before--some of them once or twice too
often."
"True!" exclaimed Levasseur with a shout. "Trelawney, for instance!"
"I should like to see Monsieur with his wig off!" said the clerk with
increasing insolence.
"Nonsense, Dubarle; you are a fool," exclaimed Levasseur, "and I will
not have my good friend Williams insulted."
Dubarle did not persist, but it was plain enough that some dim
remembrance of my features continued to haunt and perplex him.
At length, and the relief was unspeakable, a knock at the outer door
announced Jackson--Levi Samuel, I mean. We all jumped up, and ran to the
window. It was the Jew sure enough, and admirably he had dressed and now
looked the part. Levasseur went out, and in a minute or two returned
introducing him. Jackson could not suppress a start as he caught sight
of the tall, moustached addition to the expected company; and although
he turned it off very well, it drove the Jewish dialect in which he had
been practising completely out of his thoughts and speech, as he said,
"You have more company than my friend Williams led me to expect?"
"A friend--one friend extra, Mr. Samuel," said Levasseur; "that is all.
Come, sit down, and let me help you to a glass of wine. You are an
English Jew I perceive?"
"Yes."
A silence of a minute or two succeeded, and then Levasseur said, "You
are of course prepared for business?"
"Yes--that is, if you are reasonable."
"Reasonable! the most reasonable men in the world," rejoined Levasseur
with a loud laugh. "But pray where is the gold you mean to pay us with?"
"If we agree, I will fetch it in half an hour. I do not carry bags of
sovereigns about with me into _all_ companies," replied Jackson with
much readiness.
"Well, that's right enough: and now how much discount do you charge?"
"I will tell you when I see the securities."
Levasseur rose without another word, and left the apartment. He was gone
about ten minutes, and on his return, deliberately counted out the
stolen Bank of England notes and bills of Exchange. Jackson got up from
his chair, peered close to them, and began noting down the amounts in
his pocket-book. I also rose, and pretended to be looking at a picture
by the fire-place. The moment was a nervous one, as the signal had been
agreed upon, and could not now be changed or deferred. The clerk Dubarle
also hastily rose, and eyed Jackson with flaming but indecisive looks.
The examination of the securities was at length terminated, and Jackson
began counting the Bank of England notes aloud--"One--two--three--four--FIVE!"
As the signal word passed his lips, he threw himself upon Le Breton, who
sat next to him; and at the same moment I passed one of my feet between
Dubarle's, and with a dexterous twist hurled him violently on the floor;
another instant and my grasp was on the throat of Levasseur, and my
pistol at his ear. "Hurrah!" we both shouted with eager excitement; and
before either of the villains could recover from his surprise, or indeed
perfectly comprehend what had happened, Levasseur and Le Breton were
hand-cuffed, and resistance was out of the question. Young Dubarle was
next easily secured.
Levasseur, the instant he recovered the use of his faculties, which the
completeness and suddenness of the surprise and attack had paralysed,
yelled like a madman with rage and anger, and but for us, would, I
verily believe, have dashed his brains out against the walls of the
room. The other two were calmer, and having at last thoroughly pinioned
and secured them, and carefully gathered up the recovered plunder, we
left Oak Cottage in triumph, letting ourselves out, for the
woman-servant had gone off, doubtless to acquaint her mistress with the
disastrous turn affairs had taken. No inquiry was made after either of
them.
An hour afterwards the prisoners were securely locked up, and I hurried
to acquaint M. Bellebon with the fortunate issue of our enterprise. His
exultation, it will be readily believed, was unbounded; and I left him
busy with letters to the firm, and doubtless one to "cette chère et
aimable Louise," announcing the joyful news.
The prisoners, after a brief trial, which many readers of this narrative
may perhaps remember, were convicted of felonious conspiracy, and were
all sentenced to ten years' transportation. Le Breton's sentence, the
judge told him, would have been for life, but for the contrition he had
exhibited shortly before his apprehension.
As Levasseur passed me on leaving the dock, he exclaimed in French, and
in a desperately savage tone, "I will repay you for this when I return,
and that infernal Trelawney too." I am too much accustomed to threats of
this kind to be in any way moved by them, and I therefore contented
myself by smiling, and a civil "Au revoir--allons!"