Page:Memoirs of Vidocq, Volume 2.djvu/267

 occurred between us, and rather than yield the point, he resigned his situation. He became a pedlar, and sold pocket-handkerchiefs in the streets; but soon, as fame reports, he became a church-goer, and enrolled himself beneath the banner of the Jesuits, and thence grew into the "odour of sanctity" with MM. Duplessis and Delavau. Lacour has all the devotion which could recommend him in their eyes. One fact I can testify, that at the period of his marriage, his confessor, who deemed a heavy penance necessary, inflicted one upon him of a most rigorous nature, which he endured to the fullest extent. For a month, rising at dawn of day, he went with bare feet to the Rue Sainte-Anne au Calvaire, the only place where he was to meet his wife, who was also expiating offences committed.

After the appointment of M. Delavau, Lacour had an accession of religious fervour; he lived then in Rue Zacharie, and although his parochial church was that of Saint Severin, yet he went to mass every Sunday at Notre-Dame, where chance (of course) always placed him in front of the new préfet and his family. That Lacour was so thoroughly reformed must be a matter of congratulation; but it is to be lamented that it did not commence twenty years earlier; but better late than never.

Lacour has very mild manners, and if he did not get dead drunk occasionally, we should think that he had no other passion than a great love of fishing. He throws his line in the vicinity of the Pont Neuf, and frequently devotes whole hours to this silent enjoyment. Constantly near him is a female, who gives him from time to time the worm with which to bait his hook; it is madame Lacour, formerly celebrated for offering other baits still more captivating. Lacour was enjoying this innocent recreation, the taste for which he partakes with his 'Britannic majesty,' and the poet Coupigny, when honors came in quest of him. The messengers of M. Delavau found him under the Arche-Marion, and took him, line in hand, as the