Page:Memoirs of Vidocq, Volume 1.djvu/121

 Twice a week we had leave to consult our counsel in the gallery, of which one door led to the court of justice, and I contrived to get an impression of the lock; Desfosseux made a key, and one fine day, whilst my counsel was engaged with another client, accused of two murders, we all three got out without being seen. Two other gates, which opposed us, were broken open in a twinkling, and the prison was soon left behind us. But yet I was uneasy: six francs was our whole stock, and we could not get far with such a sum; which I told my companions, who looked at each other with a sinister smile: and on my repeating my observation, they told me that on the next night they intended to enter a house in the neighbourhood with which they were well acquainted.

I had no intention of turning housebreaker, any more than when I was amongst the Bohemiens. I had profitted by the experience of Desfosseux in escaping, but never contemplated uniting myself with such a villain: and yet I was not desirous of entering into any explanation. By evening we had reached a village on the road to Cambrai; we had not eaten since our escape from prison, and were sorely pressed by hunger. It was absolutely necessary to get provisions in the village. The half-naked appearance of my companions might give rise to suspicion, and it was agreed that I should go for the food. I went to a public-house, where, after having taken some bread and brandy, I went out by a different door from that at which I had entered, directing my steps in the opposite direction to that in which I had left the two men whose company I was so greatly desirous of getting rid of. I walked all night, and only stopped at break of day to sleep a few hours on a hay-stack.

Four days afterwards I reached CompeigneCompiègne [sic], on my way to Paris, where I trusted to find some means of existence until my mother could send me some succour. At Louvres, meeting a regiment of black hussars, I asked the quarter-master if I could enter, but he told