Page:Memoirs of Vidocq, Volume 1.djvu/196

 Josephine, for fear of increasing her affliction. We drew near Courtrai, and about four hundred paces from the town my companion called to the postillion to stop for an instant; he then put on a wig, concealed in the crown of his hat, stuck a large plaster on his left eye, took from under his waistcoat a brace of pistols, primed them, returned them to the belt under is vest, opened the door, jumped out and disappeared.

"All these manœuvres, which were perfect mysteries to me, only served to create great uneasiness. Could it be that Lemaire's arrest was only a pretext. Was he laying a snare for me? Did he wish me to play some part in an intrigue of any kind? I could not explain it to myself, nor think it was so. I was still very uncertain what to do, and was pacing the chamber with long strides at the Hotel du Damier, where my mysterious companion had advised me to alight, when the door suddenly opened and I saw—Josephine. At her appearance all suspicions vanished. Her abrupt entrance, her hurried journey made without me, and some hours after, whilst she might easily have had part of my chaise and my protection, ought rather perhaps to have excited them. But I was in love, and when Josephine told me that she could not endure an absence, I thought her argument and explanation admirable and unanswerable. It was four o'clock in the afternoon, and Josephine dressed herself, and, going out, did not return till ten o'clock. She was accompanied by a man dressed like a peasant of Liège, but whose manner and expression of countenance did not agree with his costume.

"Some refreshments were brought in, and the servants then leaving us, Josephine immediately throwing herself on my neck, begged me to save her husband, repeating, that it only depended on me to do this. I promised all she asked, and then the pretended peasant, who had till this time been perfectly silent, spoke in very good language, and unfolded to me what I was