"Perhaps so; but it is mine. All Paris is under the eye of the police,
just as an ant is under that of the naturalist with his microscope. How
is it, you may ask, that Paris still holds so many professional rogues?
Ah, that is because we are hampered by legal forms. The law compels us
to use only polite weapons against those to whom all weapons are
serviceable. The courts tie our hands. The rogues are clever, but be
sure that our cleverness is much greater than theirs."
"But," interrupted M. Plantat, "Tremorel is now outside the law; we have
the warrant."
"What matters it? Does the warrant give me the right to search any house
in which I may have reason to suppose he is hiding himself? No. If I
should go to the house of one of Hector's old friends he would kick me
out of doors. You must know that in France the police have to contend
not only with the rogues, but also with the honest people."
M. Lecoq always waxed warm on this subject; he felt a strong resentment
against the injustice practised on his profession. Fortunately, at the
moment when he was most excited, the black ball suddenly caught his eye.
"The devil!" exclaimed he, "I was forgetting Hector."
M. Plantat, though listening patiently to his companion's indignant
utterances, could not help thinking of the murderer.
"You said that we must look for Tremorel in Paris," he remarked.
"And I said truly," responded M. Lecoq in a calmer tone. "I have come to
the conclusion that here, perhaps within two streets of us, perhaps in
the next house, the fugitives are hid. But let's go on with our
calculation of probabilities. Hector knows Paris too well to hope to
conceal himself even for a week in a hotel or lodging-house; he knows
these are too sharply watched by the police. He had plenty of time
before him, and so arranged to hire apartments in some convenient
house."
"He came to Paris three or four times some weeks ago."
"Then there's no longer any doubt about it. He hired some apartments
under a false name, paid in advance, and to-day he is comfortably
ensconced in his new residence."