The
guests are only just leaving, for there were five or six carriages still
at the door as we passed by."
Lecoq darted off extremely troubled by what he had just heard. It now
seemed to him that if May had got into this garden, it was not for
the purpose of committing a robbery, but in the hope of throwing his
pursuers off the track, and making his escape by way of the Rue de
Grenelle, which he hoped to do unnoticed, in the bustle and confusion
attending the departure of the guests.
On reaching the Hotel de Sairmeuse, a princely dwelling, the long facade
of which was brilliantly illuminated, Lecoq found a last carriage just
coming from the courtyard, while several footmen were extinguishing the
lights, and an imposing "Suisse," dazzling to behold in his gorgeous
livery, prepared to close the heavy double doors of the grand entrance.
The young detective advanced toward this important personage: "Is this
the Hotel de Sairmeuse?" he inquired.
The Suisse suspended his work to survey the audacious vagabond who
ventured to question him, and then in a harsh voice replied: "I advise
you to pass on. I want none of your jesting."
Lecoq had forgotten that he was clad as a barriere loafer. "Ah,"
he rejoined, "I'm not what I seem to be. I'm an agent of the secret
service; by name Lecoq. Here is my card, and I came to tell you that
an escaped criminal has just scaled the garden wall in the rear of the
Hotel de Sairmeuse."
"A crim-in-al?"
The young detective thought a little exaggeration could do no harm, and
might perhaps insure him more ready aid.
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