"Well, at last the woman became convinced that they had _nothing to fear
from me_, and she did things more openly. One day I saw her put some food
in a basket and give it to the little girl. And the little girl went off
with the basket into the forest. Then I knew I was right, and the next day
I followed the little girl, and, sure enough, she led me to a rough cave
where her father was hiding. I hung about there for an hour or two, and
finally the man came out from the cave and I saw him talk to his wife and
child near a bridge over a mountain torrent."

"The picture that girl saw in the dream!"

"Yes; I'll never forget it. I had my pistol ready and he was defenseless;
and once I was just springing forward to take the fellow when he bent over
and kissed his little girl. I don't know how you look at these things,
Pougeot, but I couldn't break in there and take that man away from his wife
and child. The woman had been kind to me and trusted me, and--well, it was
a breach of duty and they punished me for it; but I couldn't do it, I
_couldn't_ do it, and I didn't do it."

"And you let the fellow go?"

"I let him go _then_, but I got him a week later in a fair fight, man to
man. They gave him ten years."

"And discharged you from the force?"

"Yes. That is, in view of my past services, they _allowed_ me to resign."
Coquenil spoke bitterly.

"Outrageous! Unbelievable!" muttered Pougeot. "No doubt you were