"Come, Prosper, have courage, be frank. I will go upstairs. You will look again in the safe: I am sure that in your agitation you did not search thoroughly. This evening I will return; and I am confident that, during the day, you will have found, if not the three hundred and fifty thousand francs, at least the greater portion of it; and tomorrow neither you nor I will remember anything about this false alarm." M. Fauvel had risen, and was about to leave the room, when Prosper arose, and seized him by the arm. "Your generosity is useless, monsieur," he said, bitterly; "having taken nothing, I can restore nothing. I have searched carefully; the bank-notes have been stolen." "But by whom, poor fool? By whom?" "By all that is sacred, I swear that it was not by me." The banker's face turned crimson. "Miserable wretch!" cried he, "do you mean to say that I took the money?" Prosper bowed his head, and did not answer. "Ah! it is thus, then," said M. Fauvel, unable to contain himself any longer. "And you dare--. Then, between you and me, M. Prosper Bertomy, justice shall decide. God is my witness that I have done all I could to save you. You will have yourself to thank for what follows. I have sent for the commissary of police: he must be waiting in my study. Shall I call him down?" Prosper, with the fearful resignation of a man who abandons himself, replied, in a stifled voice: "Do as you will." The banker was near the door, which he opened, and, after giving the cashier a last searching look, said to an office-boy: "Anselme, ask the commissary of police to step down." III If there is one man in the world whom no event can move or surprise, who is always on his guard against deceptive appearances, and is capable of admitting everything and explaining everything, it certainly is a Parisian commissary of police.While the judge, from his lofty place, applies the code to the facts submitted to him, the commissary of police observes and watches all the odious circumstances that the law cannot reach. He is perforce
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