Pickwick Abroad; or, The Tour in France — page 222: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

PICKWICK AGROAD. 909 his infernal passion—when a gentleman accosted me, and drew me aside. “< What news?” said M. de Limeul—for it was he. ‘Patience, Siz,’ was my reply; ‘‘and to-morrow morning you shall know all.”’ “¢ Well--well,” cried the secretary, with unusual good humour; “I know you Gendarmes are not accustomed to be put out of your way by useless interrogations ; so I shall not question you farther. One thing, by the bye, I must inform you of; and that is, D’Arly made application this evening at the Prefecture to enquire if any letter addressed to him had been found in the passport office.” ‘¢ And of course,”’ said I, ‘‘ a reply was given in the negative.” “Certainly,” exclaimed M. de Limeul; “and an hour after his departure I received a visit from the chief of the Committee of Public Safety—”’ | ‘“What! Vidocg himself?” cried I in astonishment. “<The celebrated Vidocq himself!” continued the overjoyed secre- tary; ‘“‘the prince of escaped galley-slaves—the king of adventurers —the hero of Arras—the member of the Army of the Moon—the pre- sident, in fine, of the police for the maintenance of public tranquillity 1 ‘It could have been no common bribe—” [ began. “Hush !” interrupted de Limeul, ‘‘ Walls have ears—and the agents of Vidocq have as many ears as eyes. ‘The very echoes of the Palais Royal are pregnant with information and interest for Vidocq. Suffice it to know that he was foiled in his aim—and that for once we shall outwit the cunning fox who has outwitted foxes themselves,” I saluted de Limeul as he uttered these words, and was nota little pleased to think that I already began to enjoy the confidence of the Sub-Prefect’s secretary. He returned my bow with a species of familiarity which added to my satisfaction, and continued his walk along the colonnade, while I, on my part, repaired to the gambling- house, at which a variety of circumstantial evidence and shrewd con- jecture had led me to believe that the misguided D’Arly intended to _ put some desperate design into execution, unless his wife should have _ been fortunate enough to have found him, and dissuaded him from any daring attempt or nefarious practice he might have meditated. At all events I was satisfied with myself: I had even partially over- stept the boundaries of duty to rest a moment within the confines of mercy; and had acted humanely and prudently at the same time; for, according to the ethics which the dictates of my own mind suggest, and which my Christian feelmgs consecrate and legitimatize, it 1s better to prevent the commission of a crime than suffer the maletactor to per- ‘petrate it, when you are aware of his intentions. ‘The ends of public justice are more readily answered by the suppression than the punish- ‘ment of vice. When I first entered the salon, there were very few people at the ‘rouge-et-noir table. It was as yet early; and the adjacent theatres had not closed. J was, however, pleased at being in good time; for I was determined to do my duty, in case necessity should put my fidelity to my employers to the test. Inthe morning I had acted asa man; at present I was resolved to behave as a Gendarme! _ It was nearly twelve o’clock, and large sums had already exchanged (E(@) =) " 27 Eomichbooks