Page:Memoirs of Vidocq, Volume 2.djvu/246

 this:—"Out of the way, old dunny-head," or else, "Come, what are you at, old stupid?"

My work was not to be completed in a single day, even as far as the yellow curtains went, I marked down more than one hundred and fifty in my memorandum book, which gave choice enough in all conscience. Had I not, as the saying is, worked for the king of Prussia?—(i. e. unavailingly.) Might not the curtains, behind which Fossard was concealed, have been taken down and replaced by white, red, or green ones? However, if chance was against me, she might yet throw out some favourable hint for my guidance; and I took courage, although it is a somewhat painful task for a sexagenarian to ascend and descend a hundred and fifty staircases, consisting at least of seven hundred and fifty stories, to take more than thirty thousand steps, or twice the height of Chimborazo; but as I felt my breath good, and my legs strong, I undertook the task, sustained by the same hope as that which impelled the Argonauts to sail in quest of the golden fleece. It was my hump-backed lady that I sought; and in my ascents, in how many landing-places have I not stood centinel for hours together, in the persuasion that my lucky star would shine upon her. The heroic Don Quixote was not more ardent in the pursuit of his Dulcinea. I knocked at the doors of all the seamstresses; I examined them one after another, but no humps; they were all perfectly formed; or if by chance they had a projection, it was not a deviation of the spine, but one of those temporary exuberances which resolve themselves into maternity.

Thus passed several days without presenting to my longing eyes the object of my search, and I was heartily tired of my job, for every night my back ached past bearing, and yet the work was to be recommenced the next morning. I dared ask no questions; for although then some charitable soul might have put me on the right scent, yet I might get into