Page:Memoirs of Vidocq, Volume 2.djvu/24

 returned, ashamed of their stupidity, we were already at a considerable distance.

Two days afterwards, Neveu, who was no longer wanted, and could not suspect me, was again arrested. I, knowing then the robbers whom we wanted, pointed them out to the police-officers, in the church of Saint Nizier, where they had one Sunday assembled, in the hope of making a good booty on the termination of the prayers. Being no longer useful to the authorities, I then quitted Lyons to go to Paris, where, thanks to M. Dubois, I was sure of arriving in safety.

I set out on the Burgundy road by the diligence, which then only travelled by day. At Lucy-le-Bois, where I slept with the other travellers, I was forgotten; and on waking, learnt that the vehicle had been gone two hours. I trusted to overtake it, in consequence of the ruggedness of the road, which is very steep in these districts; but on reaching Saint Brice, I was convinced that it was too much in advance to allow of my overtaking it, and I accordingly slackened my pace. A person who was travelling in the same direction, seeing me in a great heat, looked attentively at me, and asked me if I had come from Lucy-le-Bois; and on my replying in the affirmative, our conversation rested there. This man stopped at Saint Brice, whilst I pushed on to Auxerre. Spent with fatigue, I entered an inn, where, after having dined, I desired to be conducted to a bed.

I slept for several hours, when I was awakened by a great noise at my door, at which some persons were knocking violently. I got up, half dressed, and my eyes, heavy from sleep, gazed, as I opened the door, on tri-coloured scarves, yellow trowsers, and red facings. It was the commissary of police, attended by the quarter-master and two gendarmes, a sight which I could not see without some emotion. "See how pale he turns," said one of them; "it is he." I raised my eyes, and recognised the man who had spoken to me at Saint Brice; but nothing explained to me as yet the motive of this sudden invasion.