adventurers, who made a great noise and did a vast amount of
evil. This man of a thousand faces, this Proteus, as great a
corrupter as he was corrupted, changed his name, his quarters,
and field of operations, according to the exigences of business.
Although a man of ardent temperament and inconceivable activity,
his cold-blooded rascality was never in a hurry. He could wait;
he could bide his time. Taking in, at a glance, all the
requirements of a case, and seeing through all its difficulties,
he worked out his scheme with the utmost patience and consummated
his crime with absolute security.

Sometimes he gave a concert for amateurs, elegant suppers for gay
ladies, and special soirees for the learned and the witty. He
was not particular as to the means of doing business; thus he
trafficked in everything,--for the sale of a living, or the
procuration of a mistress--for he had associates in all ranks,
among all professions of men.

He had twenty Faro tables in operation every night, whilst his
emissaries were on the watch for new arrivals, and for those who
had recently come into property.

In general, rogues soon betray themselves by some stupid bungle;
but such was not the case with this man; he defended himself, as
it were, on all sides, and always kept himself in position so as
to oppose to each of his vices the proof positive of the contrary
virtues. Thus, if accused of usury, he could prove that he had
lent, without interest, considerable sums of money. Cowardly and
base in a tete-a-tete, he was bold and redoubtable in public;
those who had made him tremble in secret were then compelled to