and tinsel that are so dazzling at a distance.

However, the opportunity for which he had so ardently longed, for which
he had been waiting during many weary months, had come, he thought,
at last, as he reached the Poivriere with Gevrol and the other police
agents. While he was clinging to the window shutters he saw by the
light of his ambition a pathway to success. It was at first only a
presentiment, but it soon became a supposition, and then a conviction
based upon actual facts, which had escaped his companions, but which
he had observed and carefully noted. He recognized that fortune had, at
last, turned in his favor when he saw Gevrol neglect all but the merest
formalities of examination, and when he heard him declare peremptorily
that this triple murder was merely the result of one of those ferocious
quarrels so frequent among vagrants in the outskirts of the city.

"Ah, well!" he thought; "have it your own way--trust in appearances,
since you will see nothing beneath them! But I will prove to you that my
youthful theory is better than all your experience."

The inspector's carelessness gave Lecoq a perfect right to secretly seek
information on his own account; but by warning his superior officers
before attempting anything on his own responsibility, he would protect
himself against any accusation of ambition or of unduly taking advantage
of his comrade. Such charges might prove most dangerous for his future
prospects in a profession where so much rivalry is seen, and where
wounded vanity has so many opportunities to avenge itself by resorting
to all sorts of petty treason. Accordingly, he spoke to his superior
officer--saying just enough to be able to remark, in case of success:
"Ah! I warned you!"--just enough so as not to dispel any of Gevrol's
doubts.