24 MEMOIRS OF A VETERAN DETECTIVE II' law, with Robert and Bastien in their midst, two or three laborers following behind, and a surgeon bringing up the rear, made their appear- ance and began to uproot the astonished con- tractor's garden with pick and shovel. A deep excavation was made over the spot indicated on the map, but nothing was discov- ered. Inspector Laporte happening, however, to observe the persistency with which Robert stood in one place while the work went on, said to him roughly : " Stand away! Has the old lady got you by thc feet?" At this unexpected address, Robert trembled and turned pale. The spot he stood on was dug into, and the workman's pick soon penetrated a cavity in the ground. " Here we have it," cried he. In another moment he came upon the skele- ton of a woman, with the rope which had served to strangle her still about the neck, and a gold ring still on one of the fingers of the left hand. Notwithstanding this overwhelming proof, Robert and Bastien were found guilty "under extenuating circumstances" by a jolter-headed, tender-hearted jury, and were sentenced only to imprisonment for life. CHAPTER XIX. FIESCHI, PEPIN, MOBEY, AND NINA LASSA VE. Following the Revolution of 1830, seven prefects of police succeeded each other in less than fifteen months, that is to say, from July 30th, 1830, to Oct. 15th, 1831, the date of the appointment of M. Guisquet. From 1831 to 1836, this officer continued, to render invaluable services to the state. After many émeutes of greater or less importance, the tranquillity of the streets of Paris seemed at length to be as- sured; and on the 28th of July, 1835, on the anniversary of the terrible days of July (1830), Louis Philippe reviewed the National Guard on the boulevards. The crowds were immense, and full of good humor. But there were some exceptions to this rule, and it had been thought advisable to institute careful surveillance of the boulevards and the windows looking on the street, from eleven o'clock the night before. The police had received warning that an in- fernal machine had been constructed to accom- plish the death of the King, and that it was to be plaeed in one of the houses of the Boulevard Saint-Martin, near the Ambigu theater. It was to be exploded as his Majesty passed, and would probably destroy a great number of per- sons. To prevent this catastrophe a rigid surveil- lance was kept up on the boulevard in ques- tion, but nothing was discovered, for the excel- lent reason that the machine was concealed, not where the police had been informed it was to be, but in a house on the Boulevard du Temple ; and here, at the hour fixed on, it ex- ploded like a discharge of musketry. The effect was terrific. Fourteen persons, including Marshal Mortier and General Verigny fell dead, and forty more were wounded more or less severely. The King was left standing without a scratch, unhurt amidst heaps of dead and wounded. In the confusion of the terrible scene, the author of the massacre attempted to escape by letting himself down from the rear of the house. He was covered with blood and begrimed with powder, and had been severely wounded by the bursting of some of the barrels of his infernal machine. When seized, he refused to give his name, but it was ascertained a few days after- ward to be Fieschi. The machine consisted of twenty-five musket barrels laid horizontally on a frame, the back part of which could be raised or lowered at pleasure. Each barrel was loaded with deadly missiles, and the whole could be discharged simultaneously by a train of powder. The window stood open, and the machine was screened from sight by blinds, which were re- moved at the desired moment. The assassin miscalculated the time required to remove these blinds, and this fact saved the King; for the discharge took effect immediately behind him, one of the bullets wounding his horse. As soon as it was known that neither the King nor the Princes were hurt, the multitude broke forth into tumultuous expressions of joy, mingled with fury against the author of the crime. The murderer proved to be a Corsican, wdio had once been a soldier; had stood in the pil- lory for forgery, had been imprisoned two years for theft, and had served the police in the capacity of mouton. He made no attempt to deny his guilt. Two other persons were found to have been acquainted with his purpose, Pepin and Morey, but no extensive'conspiracy was discovered. The records of the office showed that some time before a warrant for the arrest of this Fies- chi had been issued, on a charge of fraud of some kind, and that it had been given to me to exe- cute. Knowing nothing of this fact, I had left my office the evening before in my ordinary tranquil frame of mind, but at six the next morning 1 was awakened by one of my subor- dinates in a very excited condition. "It proves," said he, "that the murderer's name is Fieschi, and that you have had a war- rant for his arrest in your hands for a long time. The Prefect demands from you the reason for your failure to perform your duty." I saw at once the importance of the question, and the immense responsibility resting on my shoulders, in case, through any negligence of mine, I had become an involuntary accomplice in the attempted regicide. There had been nothing in the particular warrant in question to distinguish it from any other of the hundred or hundred and fifty warrants of the same sort placed monthly in my charge. Fortunately, however, I wras able to show that I had set on foot very minute inquiries for the culprit, by producing no less than six different reports pre- pared by me on the case, these all showing that I had thorough^ searched not only Fieschi's own place of abode, but that of his mistress, Petit, whom he had abandoned, and of his patron and friend, M. C------, an engineer. The warrant, with these reports attached, were sent immediately to the Prefect, and s.atis- fied him that I had been guilty of no neglect of duty in the premises. A few clays later it was ascertained that the gun-barrels of which the infernal machine had been constructed had been previously carried in a trunk to the rooms of one Nina Lassave, Fieschi's new mistress. Where these rooms were situated we could not then discover. The porter who took the trunk was a young man named Dubronet, a native of Picardy, in whom muscular force served as the substitute for intel- lect, and who in the mental scale ranked little above a beast of burden. When questioned, he declared that he remembered carrying a trunk, he thought to a house not far from the Hôtel de Ville, but he could neither give the name of the street nor describe the person to whom he delivered it. The agents, Bouveret and S.tiiacherer were thereupon ordered to take him in charge and find the house under his guidance as soon as possible. At the time I speak of the quarter of the Hôtel de Ville was a labyrinth of narrow lanes long since obliterated, all identical in appear- ance, and bewildering to the clearest intelli- gence. As for our honest porter, his bump of locality was much too undeveloped to keep him from blundering, and he lost himself at once. For two whole days the search was kept up without success, and the exhausted agents came to report their failure. I happened to be in the office of the Chief when this occurred. "Let me try my hand," said 1; "Igenerally have good luck in these matters. Perhaps I can find what is wanted." "Very well," answered the Chief, " take hold and do your best." The two inspectors, Dubronet, and mvself thereupon set off without delay for the Hôtel de Ville. Reaching the corner of the Rue Long Pont, I asked whether this street had been examined. "Certainly, over and over again," was the answer, and we passed on. We spent many hours in visiting every street, lane, and alley in the quarter, stopping before every house, and in every case receiving the same answer from the guide. My inspectors, I felt, were laughing in their sleeves, when it occurred to me to put the following question: "Do you remember whether in the street where you carried the trunk you happened to see a church?" " No, sir; I don't remember one," he replied. We were standing at the time opposite the Rue Long Pont, at the other end of which we could see in the distance the porch of the church of Saint Gervais. I ordered my agents to take the man to a police-station, and to rejoin me as soon as posssible. They went away together down the street named, and in a minute or two Bouveret came running back to tell me that the porter had recognized the house numbered eleven as the place where he had left the trunk. My casual mention of the church Un scattered ideas. aQ ' I hurried to the place pointed r_ Dubronet and Schacherer waiting ' m^ court. The door-keeper infomfd ,tte" : srvmn timo v»oot „ .,„..„_. . , uleQ US It. some time past a young girl answe story f and he recognized Du"bro_i.?th'fos^ who brought a trunk to the house ^. reply. Looking then through th .{?,«». could see a woman's dress extended * which stood just opposite ** suicide, I turned to send fo/thepf missioners of the quarter to open th. h C*- I saw a girl coming out of a closet S> down the stairs. I recognized her in™ I % as the person I was after, and ask ed » woo nnt k™„ .» w:__t dMv(-Q hei'i si was not known as Nina Lassave she answered; "you have come to ar, Alas, that you should have come ' on being ci not till tiie,, v: 7°._lpe_*. andhaïrai I about to lull myself to-night"" °I P!!' i'« room and the first object tha.caug29 was the wished-for trunk! I hadKt* promise Leaving Nina Lassave with?;!»? agents, I hurried off to inform M. Jolv 0 „?, the Municipal Police, of my suS S" ceived his cordial congratulation» x?' I arrest," said he, "will prove to be the I- i the entire affair, and will throw a flood off* on subsequent investigations." And so it proved; for, with his mistress, and made up his mind Pepin and Morey was effected. Returning to No. 11 Rue Long Pont, I asU Nina, among other questions, whether shefeh any affection for Fieschi. "Affection!" she cried, "Ihave never 1« able to endure him. I detest him." " And yet you were his mistress." "I confess it; and yet I hate him. Hew my mother's lover, and I hated him forth One day, in my mother's absence, he accou' ' plished my ruin by violence. He loves m . ardently, and I might perhaps be happy, could I return his passion. But I cannot. "lata j and hate him." Morey and Pepin were arrested wit! j of time, and a few days afterward, on the oid.c : of a magistrate, the latter was taken from ft | prison, and conducted, in charge of several police agents, to his rooms, lo be present at Hi examination of his private papers. The pro- ceeding was long and tedious, and Pepin sai that his guards dozed ; so, collecting all his cour- age, he dashed like lightning, down the siiiii, and before he could be pursued had concealed himself so effectually that all search for him wit for a long time fruitless. Nevertheless, like so many other men in ft position, Pepin found his Judas. On the Ifthoî September, our chief received orders from tit Minister to make the arrest, under the guidante of a friend of Pepin, who knew his place ol concealment, and had promised to get him i passport; but who had been bribed to betiaj him. I, with a dozen assistants, was tone» pany the expedition. Accordingly, the CW the informer, and Fraudin took a carriage and went on ahead as advance guards, and M dozen following with instructions to join* others at the rendezvous, a village called Ton- nan. . We arrived at Tournan about four P. Hi, » here our informer, who had been making pn* inquiries, declared that the time was unpr» tious, and the attempt must be postponed; » the whole party returned to Paris. , The project, however, was not abandi» and on the 18th we received orders to mak second .attempt, the rendezvous this time m at Meaux, where we were to assemble at night. t, We started accordingly in acoupleof «g ed hacks, under the leadership' of the r himself, who deemed the affair of the gwjj importance to his reputation. The mtoi. took in his own carriage, and theyovcX^. passed us near the village of Claye. of us dragged on lumberingly behind J»» broken-down horses, until we e where the animals gave out i hausted. From here we were obligedJ9JJ Arriving lapitalot. ine. ¦' post-horses to finish our trip, ten at night in the ancient capital Yfyy alighted at the Hotel of the Golden W> for took supper. At twelve we set f.f XXjt, i» a retired farm-house about ten miles " X^ which it was understood Pepin lay w