warmly by the hand, and parted from him, saying, 'Never fear; all shall
go right with you, my dear Victor.' At the sound of that name 'Victor,'
my colleague's memories, before so confused, became instantaneously
clear. Previous to entering our service, he had been in the horse
business, a votary of the turf; as such he had often seen the brilliant
'sportman,' Victor de Mauleon; sometimes talked to him. Yes, that was
the voice,--the slight Norman intonation (Victor de Mauleon's father had
it strongly, and Victor had passed some of his early childhood in
Normandy), the subdued modulation of speech which had made so polite the
offence to men, or so winning the courtship to women,--that was Victor de
Mauleon. But why there in that disguise? What was his real business and
object? My confrere had no time allowed to him to prosecute such
inquiries. Whether Victor or the rich malcontent had observed him at
their heels, and feared he might have overheard their words, I know not;
but the next day appeared in one of the popular journals circulating
among the _ouvriers_ a paragraph stating that a Paris spy had been seen
at Lyons, warning all honest men against his machinations, and containing
a tolerably accurate description of his person. And that very day, on
venturing forth, my estimable colleague suddenly found himself hustled by
a ferocious throng, from whose hands he was with great difficulty rescued
by the municipal guard. He left Lyons that night; and for recompense of
his services received a sharp reprimand from his chief. He had committed
the worst offence in our profession, _trop de zele_. Having only heard
the outlines of this story from another, I repaired to my _confrere_
after my last interview with Monsieur, and learned what I now tell you
from his own lips. As he was not in my branch of the service, I could
not order him to return to Lyons; and I doubt whether his chief would
have allowed it. But I went to Lyons myself, and there ascertained that
our supposed Vicomte had left that town for Paris some months ago, not
long after the adventure of my colleague. The man bore a very good