Moiselet inquired if he bad any more?
Vidocq made him understand that every one of
his buttons was garnished with the same lining,
with the exception that the large buttons
contained double Napoleons, while the small buttons
had only single ones. The old sacristan jumped
for joy; he had no money, or, if he had, it did
not suit his purpose to show it. He was
charmed at finding a comrade who prodigally
met their common expenses, without asking
for anything in return beyond the pleasure
of his company. In the impossibility of
persuading his amiable guest to speak French,
Moiselet attempted to speak what, on the stage,
passes by courtesy for broken German. It was
in this frightful jargon, enough to disconcert a
Frankfort Jew, that Vidocq, without a great
deal of persuasion, related his story, framed for
the circumstances.

Although the narrative did not sin by excess
of lucidity, Moiselet easily comprehended that
his new friend had, at the battle of Montereau,
stolen his master's portmanteau and concealed
it in the Forest of Bondy; and as the confession
did not appear either to astonish him or to shock
his feelings, Vidocq came to the conclusion that
his friend's conscience was tolerably lax and
wide, and no longer doubted that he knew better
than anybody else what had become of the curé's
little property, the sacred vessels, and M.
Sénard's diamonds. He began to vaunt the
pleasant life that was led on the other side of the
Rhine, the beauty of the women, and the excellence
of the wines. He got him to express the
desire he felt of going to Germany, as soon as
he had recovered his liberty.

Persuaded from that moment that his
companion, at his time of life, would not entertain
such a project unless he knew where to procure
money, Vidocq wrote to the Procureur du Roi,
made himself known as the Head of the Police
de Sûreté and begged him to order that he
should be removed with Moiselet under the
pretence of being transferred, the one to Livry, the
other to Paris. As may be supposed, the order
had not long to be waited for.

They were bound with only a very thin rope;
on the road Moiselet made signs that it would
be easy to break it. The further they travelled,
the more he gave Vidocq to understand that in
him lay his only hope of safety; every minute
he repeated his earnest entreaty not to be left
behind, while Vidocq reassured him, by answering
ambiguously, "Ja, friend Frenchman. Ja,
I not leave you; I not let you go alone."

At last, the decisive moment arrived; the
rope was broken, and Vidocq cleared the ditch
which separated the road from the underwood of
the forest. Moiselet, who had recovered the
legs of his youth, rushed after him. One of the
gendarmes dismounted to pursue them; but how
was it possible, even with all the good will in
the world, to run, and above all to jump, in
jack-books and with a heavy sabre? "Whilst the
gendarme made a circuit to intercept his
prisoners, they disappeared in the thicket and
were soon out of reach.

They followed a path which led them to the
wood of Vanjours. There, Moiselet halted;
and after looking carefully around, directed
his steps towards a thicket of bushes. He
then stooped, thrust his arm into one of the
densest tufts, and drew out of it a spade. He
rose abruptly, advanced several paces without
uttering a word, and when they came to a birch-
tree, several twigs of which had been snapped
short, he took off his hat and coat, and set to
work to dig with all his might and main. He
laboured with such hearty good will that his
task progressed rapidly. All of a sudden he
threw himself back, uttering a long-drawn sigh
of satisfaction, which told his companion that,
without the aid of the diviner's wand, he had
succeeded in discovering a treasure. The cooper
seemed on the point of fainting from excess of
joy; but he speedily recovered himself. The
removal of two or three more shovelfuls of earth
exposed the box to view; he laid hold of it and
pulled it out. While so doing, Vidocq seized
the instrument of discovery, and, suddenly
changing his tone, declared that the emigrant to
Germany was his prisoner.

"If you make the slightest resistance," he
said, " I will dash your brains out."

At this threat, Moiselet thought he was
dreaming; but when he felt himself in the grasp
of that iron hand which had grappled with the
most desperate ruffians, he must nave been
convinced that it was no dream, but a terrible
reality. He became as gentle as a lamb; Vidocq
had promised not to desert him, and he kept his
word. During his walk to the gendarmes'
station-house, he kept exclaiming, over and over
again, " I am a ruined man! Who would have
thought it? He seemed such a harmless sort
of fellow! "Who would have thought it?"

Moiselet vas tried at the Versailles Assizes,
and was condemned to six years' reclusion.

M. Sénard was delighted beyond measure at
the recovery of his three hundred thousand
francs' worth of diamonds; but, faithful to his
downward sliding-scale, he cut down the reward
to one half, and even then Vidocq had a hard
task to get him to pay in cash the five thousand
francs, out of which he had expended more than
two. At one time, he was afraid that he would
have to suffer the loss for his pains.

Note here, that Vidocq never attempted to
conceal this trifling perquisite of three thousand
francs, any more than he did other extra
gratuities. Similar additions to his income were
by no means rare, and they serve to explain
quite satisfactorily, how, with a fixed salary of
only five thousand francs a year, he quitted
office, after having held it for eighteen years,
with something like a little fortune.

Such was Vidocq's activity, that the numerous
operations of the Brigade of Safety were for him
insufficient occupation. Towards the close of
the Empire, he opened in the Place de Grève,
near Saint-Jean's turnstile, a distillery, or gin-
shop, where his faithful Annette was enthroned,
and where lie himself did not disdain to take his
seat occasionally. It was an excellent post for