38 THE SLAVES OF PARIS. person seemed chafed like an electric battery, and communicated a magnetic fluid from his energetic will. He commanded absolute at- tention as he spoke. "On this night of which I speak," he re- sumed, "we, my friends and I, broke loose from all obligations of honor and morality, and shook ourselves free from all shackles of duty. The plan leaped from my brain entire and com- plete in its smallest details, and I have no better word to describe it to you to-day than those I used twenty-years ago to my friends. "You know, marquis, how, as summer ad- vances, there is scarcely a cherry without its worm. The finest ones, the largest and reddest, the freshest in appearance, 'are precisely those which when opened show the worm within. Just so, in the highest circles of a city like Paris, there is not one family—I say not one, and use the phrase advisedly—that has not its guilty secret, its shameful mystery and gaping wound. "Now, suppose that any one man should gain possession of all of these? Would he not be^master of the world? Would he not be more powerful than the most powerful of monarchs? Would he not be able to manage everything according to his own caprices and interests? " Very well, I said to myself that I would be that man." Ever since the Marquis M. de Croisenois had had business relations with Mascarot he had not been without shrewd suspicions of the nature of his operations. "You are describing an elaborate system of blackmailing!" he exclaimed. B. Mascarot bowed low with an ironical smile. "Precisely, marquis. It is precisely what is called blackmailing. The word is new, but the thing itself is doubtless as old as the world itself. The first day that a man, dis- covering some infamous act committed by a fellow creature, threatens him with exposure unless he submits to certain demands, was the day that blackmailing was invented. If all that is old is to be respected, then blackmail- ing must not be repudiated." "But, monsieur!" cried the marquis, with a flushed face. "Pshaw!" answered Mascarot, with a con- temptuous shrug of his shoulders, "are you afraid of a word? Who has not done more or less of this same blackmailing? Look at your- self: do you remember that night this very win- ter, when at your club vou caught a young stranger cheating at cards"? You 'said nothing to him or any one else at the time; you found out that he was very rich ; you called on him the next day and borrowed ten thousand francs. When do you intend to return them?" Croisenois fell back helplessly in his chair. "Horrible!" he murmured. But Mascarot did not look at him. "I know," he continued, " at least two thou- sand persons in Paris to-day who have no other means of support than blackmail. I have studied them all—from the low born convict who extorts money from his former companion in the galleys, up to the wretch in the dog- cart who, because chance has made him the confidant of the weakness of some'unfortunate woman, forces this woman to give her daughter as his wife!" "If you should happen some day to see the Prince de Saccost and the banker on the boule- vard, you will notice that the haughty prince presses the hand of this wretch most affection- ately, and yet he is a man whose reputation is so tarnished, that upon my word I should be most unwilling to speak to him myself. Now why is this; I have not yet been able to find out, but I am convinced that it is a secret that would be worth at least a hundred thousand francs. "I know,a commissionaire in the Rue de Douai, who in five years amassed a comfortable little fortune. Guess how? When he was trusted with a letter he invariably opened and read it. If it contained one compromising line he pounced down upon the writer. i " There is scarcely a business enterprise which has not its parasites, skillful persons who have discovered something which will not bear the light, and who consequently are paid to keep silence. "I know one honorable society, who, having once broken their statutes, are compelled to pay a yearly pension to a scoundrel decked with for- eign orders, because he holds the proofs of their dishonor. "All these matters, it is necessary to say, are negotiated withjhe utmost care and secresy. In regard to blackmailing, the police are alert, and the French courts extremely severe." B. Mascarot apparently desired to thrill his hearers with every note in the gamut. At the words "courts" and " police," a cold shiver ran over them from -head to foot. " Upon this ground," he continued, " the En- glish are really our superiors. In London a shameful secret is as negotiable as a bill of ex- change. In the city there is a well-known jeweler who advances funds at once on the strength of a ' dangerous letter ' signed by a re- spectable name. His shop is a sort of mont de petie of infamy. "The principal blackmailers of London have, in different ways and at different times, extracted from Lord Palmerston fifty thousand pounds sterling. Old Pam was guilty of the fault of loving his neighbor's wife, and was horribly afraid of scandal. "In America it is better still; blackmailing is there elevated to the height of a profession. The New York citizen who meditates some knavery stands more in terror of the traffickers in secrets than of the police." Hortebise and Catenae by this time showed evident signs of impatience, but Mascarot paid no heed to either their looks or signs. ' " Our beginnings were by no means, marquis, examples of finished skill. For a long time, too, we were sowing our crops, and you come in just as we are about to reap our harvest. Fortu- nately, the professions of Catenae and Hortebise seemed to have been chosen to further our operations ; one was a lawyer, the other a phy- sician. They cured wounds, one of the body, the other of the purse. You can easily under- stand that in these respective professions they naturally became possessors of many secrets. As for myself, the head of our association, it was, of course, impossible for me to remain a mere looker-on with folded arms. But what was there for me to do? For several weeks I discussed this question with myself. Our funds had by this time suffered severe inroads, and at last I concluded to hire this office, and I established myself here as the head of an intel- ligence bureau. Such a modest occupation would, of course, attract little or no curiosity, and iu all other respects my provisions were correct, as the result has proved, and as my ' friends will affirm." Hortebise and Catenae nodded an assent. " By my system," continued Mascarot, " the rich man, in the privacy of his home among his family and surrounded by his servants, is more strictly watched than the condemned criminal in his cell, surrounded by invisible spies. Nothing that this rich man does escapes the observation of those servants whom we have placed about him. Let him speak or be silent irritated or gay, each woid and act is weighed and analyzed. To conceal one of his acts, much less one of his thoughts from us for eight con- secutive days is quite impossible. The very secret that in the night he" confided to his wife with closed doors and with lips close to her ears is discovered." Here the marquis smiled superciliously. " You, sir," said Mascarot; " must have medi- tated on these thoughts, for I notice that never once have you taken a servant from this bureau. But, do you think for a moment that in this way I am kept in ignorance of your acts? By no means. And too, you have a valet at this moment of whom you literally know nothing." "Oh! Morel was recommended to me by an intimate friend, Sir Richard Wakefield !" "Indeed ! But this fact does not prevent me from doubting the youth. However, more of this on another occasion. Now to return to the subject in hand. As I was telling you, I con- ceived the idea of utilizing the immense power possessed by these servants who go from household to household. I determined to con- dense it, as it were, like vapor, and then to em- ploy it as we chose! And it is precisely this I have done. This insignificant bureau is really the centre of a stupendous spider's web, which has cost me twenty years of patient labor but in whose ramifications all of Paris is now in- volved. " I stay here before my fire, but eyes and ears are at work for me in every direction. The police spend millions in fees to their agents, while I, without loosening my purse strings have an army of faithful laborers. "I receive at least fifty servants every day of both sexes. Count for yourselves how many this will be at the end of Jhe year. And while the agents of the police are compelled to hover around the houses which they wish to watch, mine are within. They live there amid the in- terests and passions and intrigues of their em- ployers. And this is not all. Through the em- ployees for whom I find situations, I have a foot- hold in commerce. Through my waiters in the restaurants, I have the entree to the most se- cluded of their rooms." It was in a tone of intense satisfaction that B. Mascarot explained the working of his ma- chinery. His very spectacles glittered with joy. "But do not imagine for a moment," he added, "that all these people'are in my secret —by no means! The greater part of them are totally unaware of what they are doing, and , in this is my great strength. Each of them brings me a thread, and it is I who twists the [mighty cord which binds my slaves. They come here and talk. They are malicious aud indiscreet, that is all ; and we save, listen, and piece and patch together all the information we have gathered, and every evening I have more than one entry to make in my note-books. These people who serve me in this unsuspect- ing manner, remind me of those strange Bra- zilian birds whose presence is an infallible an- nouncement of a subterranean spring. Where- ever one of them utters a note there let the thirsty traveler dig, and he will surely find the water he seeks. To dig is therefore my es- pecial business—I seek, and I find. Now, mar- quis, do you understand the motives and ob- jects of our association?" "Which," said Dr. Hortebise, gently, "has brought us in some years more than two hun- dred and fifty thousand francs." Monsieur de Croisenois detested long stories, but he was by no means insensible to the elo- quence of figures. He knew the life of Paris too thoroughly not to fully understand that in throwing his net thus regularly into troubled waters, that Mascarot must catch many fish— that is to say, much money. J^er this convic- tion had taken full possession of his mind it did not require much urging to induce him to look favorably on the project. With a most winning expression he now asked: "And what must I do to earn the protection of the society?" B. Mascarot was too acute not to at once perceive the drift of this question. If his lengthy explanation had obtained only this re- sult, he would have felt that he had done well; but there was more than this. Paul, chilled with dismay at first, had grad- ually recovered his equanimity as he realized the power of these men who had charged them- selves with his future. He lost sight of the infamy of the speculation in his admiration of the ingenious combinations. "If," resumed Mascarot, "we have had, up to this time, no disagreeable occurrences, it is that while we seem to be rash and fool-hardy, we are in reality excessively cautious and prudent. We have managed our people well—we have driven no one of them to extremity. Lucrative as is our profession, marquis, we are beginning to tire of it. We are growing old, my friend, and I—and we need repose. We have there- fore made up our minds to retire; but we wish first, if possible, to arrange all our affairs. I have an enormous mass of documents of all kinds," continued Mascarot; "but they are, generally speaking, of a most delicate nature; and to obtain the value they represent is not always easy. I count on your assistance." At that declaration Croisenois turned pale. What! Was he expected to go armed with comprising letters—to say to men whom possi- bly he knew: "Your purse, or your honor!" He had no objection to sharing the profits of an ignoble traffic, but he had no intention, to use a vulgar phrase, of putting his hand in the pie. ' ' Never !" he exclaimed, hastily ; ' ' no—never. You must not count on me." His indignation seemed so entirely sincere, and his determination so firm and decided, that Hortebise and Catenae exchanged a glance of dismay. But Mascarot shrugged his shoulders and ad- justed his spectacles. "No nonsense, if you please, sir," he said, sternly. ' ' Wait before you show quite so much decision. I told you that my documents were of a special nature, and this is why. One of the greatest difficulties with which we have to contend is, that we often stumble across mar- ried people who, although they are very rich, have not the disposal of their own fortunes! Husbands say, to take ten thousand francs from my fortune without the knowledge of my wife is utterly impossible. Women say, I can have