Meanwhile, he laid his plans for attack.  At first his joy, at capturing the much desired prey had been so keen that he could not withstand the pleasure of writing the news straight to Real whom he asked to keep it secret for a fortnight.  On reflexion he realised how difficult it would be to obtain confessions from a woman who had been so hideously deceived, and he felt that the traps, into which the naive Mme. de Combray had fallen would be of no avail in her daughter’s case.  He had better ones:  on his person he carried the letter which Mme. de Combray had written to her dear Delaitre, which he had taken from the Captain in Mme. Acquet’s very presence.  In this letter, the Marquise had spoken of her daughter as “the vilest of creatures, lamenting that for her own safety she was obliged to come to the assistance of such a monster; she especially complained of the amount of money it was costing her.”

On the 9th of October, Licquet came into Mme. Acquet’s cell, began to converse familiarly with her, told her that he knew her name and showed her Mme. de Combray’s letter.  On reading it Mme. Acquet flew into a violent passion.  Licquet comforted her, gave her to understand that he was her only friend, that her mother hated her and had only helped her in the hope of saving her own life; that the lawyer Lefebre had sold himself to the police on giving the Chauvels’ address at Falaise, in proof of which he showed her the note written by the lawyer’s own hand.  He even went so far as to allude to certain infidelities on the part of Le Chevalier, and to the mistresses he must have had in Paris, till at last the unhappy woman burst into tears of indignation and grief.

“Enough,” she said; “it is my turn now; you must receive my declaration immediately, and take it at once to the prefect.  I will confess everything.  My life is a burden to me.”

She immediately told the long story of d’Ache’s plans, his journeys to England, the organisation of the plot, the attempt to print the Prince’s manifesto, and also how he had beguiled Le Chevalier and had succeeded in drawing him into it, by promises of high rank and great honours.  She said, too, that d’Ache whom she accused of having caused all the unhappiness of her life, had recommended robbing the public treasury; that the attacks on the coaches had been carried out by his orders, which had been “to stop them all.”  She accused her mother of helping to transport the booty to Caen; herself she accused of having sheltered the brigands.  The only ones she excused were Joseph Buquet, who had only carried out her instructions, and Le Chevalier whom she represented as beguiled by d’Ache’s misleading promises.  Her “frantic passion” was apparent in every word she uttered:  she even told Licquet that “if she could save Le Chevalier’s life at the cost of her own she would not hesitate.”