"Very funny! Most amusing! There are two caps--One, the real one,
which constituted our only piece of evidence, has gone off on the
head of the sham flyman! The other, the false one, is in your hands.
Oh, the fellow has had us nicely!"

"Catch him! Fetch him back!" cried M. Filleul. "Two of your men on
horseback, Sergeant Quevillon, and at full speed!"

"He is far away by this time," said the deputy.

"He can be as far as he pleases, but still we must lay hold of him."

"I hope so; but I think, Monsieur le Juge d'Instruction, that your
efforts should be concentrated here above all. Would you mind
reading this scrap of paper, which I have just found in the pocket
of the coat?"

"Which coat?"

"The driver's."

And the deputy prosecutor handed M. Filleul a piece of paper, folded
in four, containing these few words written in pencil, in a more or
less common hand:

"Woe betide the young lady, if she has killed the governor!"

The incident caused a certain stir.