that when the Sub-Prefect was a little boy,
and was taken for the first time to the Play,
he was not half as much pleased as he was
now at the job in prospect for him at the
"Gambling-House!"

.Away we went through the streets, the
Sub-Prefect cross-examining and congratulating
me in the same breath, as we marched
at the head of our formidable posse comitatus.
Sentinels were placed at the back and front of
the gambling-house the moment we got to it;
a tremendous battery of knocks was directed
against the door; a light appeared at a
window; I waited to conceal myself behind
the police—then came more knocks, and a
cry of " Open in the name of the law! " At
that terrible summons, bolts and locks gave
way before an invisible hand, and the moment
after, the Sub-Prefect was in the passage,
confronting a waiter, half-dressed and ghastly
pale. This was the short dialogue which
immediately took place.

"We want to see the Englishman who is
sleeping in this house ?"

"He went away hours ago."

"He did no such thing. His friend went
away; he remained. Show us to his bed-
room!"

"I swear to you, Monsieur le Sous-Prefet,
he is not here! he—"

"I swear to you, Monsieur le Garçon, he
is. He slept here—he didn't find your bed
comfortable—he came to us to complain of it
—here he is, among my men—and here am I,
ready to look for a flea or two in his
bedstead. Picard! (calling to one of the
subordinates, and pointing to the waiter) collar
that man, and tie his hands behind him.
Now, then, gentlemen, let us walk up
stairs!"

Every man and woman in the house was
secured—the " Old Soldier," the first. Then I
identified the bed in which l had slept; and then
we went into the room above. No object that
was at all extraordinary appeared in any part
of it. The Sub-Prefect looked round the place,
commanded everybody to be silent, stamped
twice on the floor, called for a candle, looked
attentively at the spot he had stamped on,
and ordered the flooring there to be carefully
taken up. This was done in no time. Lights
were produced, and we saw a deep raftered
cavity between the floor of this room and the
ceiling of the room beneath. Through this
cavity there ran perpendicularly a sort of
case of iron, thickly greased; and inside the
case, appeared the screw, which communicated
with the bed-top below. Extra lengths
of screw, freshly oiled—levers covered with
felt—all the complete upper works of a heavy
press, constructed with infernal ingenuity so
as to join the fixtures below—and, when taken
to pieces again, to go into the smallest
possible compass, were next discovered, and
pulled out on the floor. After some little
difficulty, the Sub-Prefect succeeded in putting
the machinery together, and, leaving his men
to work it, descended with me to the
bedroom. The smothering canopy was then
lowered, but not so noiselessly as I had seen
it lowered. When I mentioned this to the
Sub-Prefect, his answer, simple as it was, had
a terrible significance. "My men," said he,
"are working down the bed-top for the first
time—the men whose money you won, were
in better practice."

We left the house in the sole possession of
two police agents—every one of the inmates
being removed to prison on the spot. The
Sub-Prefect, after taking down my "procèsverbal"
in his office, returned with me to my
hotel to get my passport. " Do you think,"
I asked, as I gave it to him, "that any men
have really been smothered in that bed, as
they tried to smother me?"

"I have seen dozens of drowned men laid
out at the Morgue," answered the Sub-Prefect,
"in whose pocket-books were found letters,
stating that they had committed suicide in
the Seine, because they had lost everything
at the gaming-table. Do I know how many
of those men entered the same gambling-
house that you entered? won as you won?
took that bed as you took it? slept in it?
were smothered in it ? and were privately
thrown into the river, with a letter of
explanation written by the murderers and placed
in their pocket-books ? No man can say how
many, or how few, have suffered the fate from
which you have escaped. The people of the
gambling-house kept their bedstead machinery
a secret from us—even from the police! The
dead kept the rest of the secret for them.
Good night, or rather good morning,
Monsieur Faulkner! Be at my office again at
nine o'clock—in the meantime, au revoir!"

The rest of my story is soon told. I was
examined, and re-examined; the gambling-
house was strictly searched all through, from
top to bottom; the prisoners were separately
interrogated; and two of the less guilty
among them made a confession. / discovered
that the Old Soldier was the master of the
gambling-house—justice discovered that he
had been drummed out of the army, as a
vagabond, years ago; that he had been guilty
of all sorts of villanies since; that he was
in possession of stolen property, which the
owners identified; and that he, the croupier,
another accomplice, and the woman who had
made my cup of coffee, were all in the secret
of the bedstead. There appeared some reason
to doubt whether the inferior persons
attached to the house knew anything of the
suffocating machinery; and they received the
benefit of that doubt, by being treated simply
as thieves and vagabonds. As for the Old
Soldier and his two head-myrmidons, they
went to the galleys; the woman who had
drugged my coffee was imprisoned for I forget
how many years; the regular attendants at
the gambling-house were considered
"suspicious," and placed under "surveillance;"
and I became, for one whole week (which is