and Fouche were bent on casting light into this dark corner of the conspiracy of 1803.  All these considerations Fouche saw at a glance, rapidly and with great clearness.  But between Malin, Talleyrand, and himself there were strong ties which forced him to the utmost circumspection, and made him anxious to know the exact state of things within the walls of Gondreville.  Corentin was unreservedly attached to Fouche, just as Monsieur de la Besnardiere was to Talleyrand, Gentz to Monsieur de Metternich, Dundas to Pitt, Duroc to Napoleon, Chavigny to Cardinal Richelieu.  Corentin was not the counsellor of his master, but his instrument, the Tristan to this Louis XI. of low estate.  Fouche had kept him in the ministry of the police when he himself left it, so as to still keep an eye and a finger in it.  It was said that Corentin belonged to Fouche by some unavowed relationship, for he rewarded him lavishly after every service.  Corentin had a friend in Peyrade, the old pupil of the last lieutenant of police; but he kept a good many of his secrets from him.  Fouche gave Corentin an order to explore the chateau of Gondreville, to get the plan of it into his memory, and to know every hiding-place within its walls.

“We may be obliged to return there,” said the ex-minister, precisely as Napoleon told his lieutenants to explore the field of Austerlitz on which he intended to fall back.

Corentin was also to study Malin’s conduct, discover what influence he had in the neighborhood, and observe the men he employed.  Fouche regarded it as certain that the Simeuse brothers were in that part of the country.  By cautiously watching the two officers, who were closely allied with the Prince de Conde, Peyrade and Corentin could obtain precious light on the ramifications of the conspiracy beyond the Rhine.  In any case, however, Corentin received the means, the orders, and the agents, to surround the chateau of Cinq-Cygne and watch the whole region, from the forest of Nodesme into Paris.  Fouche insisted on the utmost caution, and would only allow a domiciliary visit to Cinq-Cygne in case Malin gave them positive information which made it necessary.  By way of instructions he explained to Corentin the otherwise inexplicable personality of Michu, who had been watched by the police for the last three years.  Corentin’s idea was that of his master:  “Malin knows all about the conspiracy—­But,” he added to himself, “perhaps Fouche does, too; who knows?”

Corentin, having started for Troyes before Malin, had made arrangements with the commandant of the gendarmerie in that town, who picked out a number of his most intelligent men and placed them under orders of an able captain.  Corentin chose Gondreville as the place of rendezvous, and directed the captain to send some of his men at night in four detachments to different points of the valley of Cinq-Cygne at sufficient distance from each other to cause no alarm.  These four pickets were to form a square and close in around the