Page:Memoirs of Vidocq, Volume 2.djvu/245

 vague, and yet the problem was to be solved; and I determined to try, if by dint of all my acumen and research, my good genius would not direct my finger to the very spot I sought.

I was in doubt as to what steps I should first take; but as I had generally found that, in all my undertakings, it was principally from females that I gleaned my information, whether women or girls, I soon determined on the disguise which was best adapted for my purpose. It was apparent that I must assume the guise of a very respectable gentleman, and, consequently, by means of some false wrinkles, a pig-tail, snowy white ruffles, a large gold-headed cane, a three-cornered hat, buckles, breeches and coat to match,—I was metamorphosed into one of those good sexagenarian citizens, whom all old ladies admire. I had the precise appearance and air of one of those rich old boys of the Marais, whose rubicund and jolly countenance proves the ease of his circumstances, and the desire to bestow charity on those who need it, by way of a recompense to fortune. I was very sure that the hump-backed women would set their caps at me; and I had the appearance of so good a man, that it was impossible they would make any attempts at deceiving me.

Thus disguised, I went into the streets, gazing upwards to discover all the curtains of the prescribed colour. I was so much occupied with this investigation that I was entirely lost to all around me. Had I been a little less substantial looking I might have been taken for a metaphysician, or perhaps for a poet who was seeking a couplet in the region of the chimney-pots; twenty times I narrowly escaped the cabriolets; on all sides the cry of "Gâre! gâre!" (mind, mind) assailed me, and then, on turning round, I was under the wheel, or else close beside a horse; sometimes, whilst I was wiping the dirt from my sleeve, a lash of a whip came across my face, or, if the driver were less brutal, it was some such salutation as