began to put this theatrical “coup” into execution.  Mention is made of it in the Memoirs of the valet Constant, and certain details of the investigation confirm these assertions.  Raoul Gaillard, who still lived at the Hotel de Bordeaux, and entertained his friends Denis Lamotte, the vine-dresser of Saint-Leu and Massignon, farmer of Saint-Lubin there, had discovered that Massignon leased some land from Macheret, the First Consul’s coachman, and had determined at all hazards to make this man’s acquaintance.  He even had the audacity to show himself at the Chateau of Saint-Cloud in the hope of meeting him.  Besides this, Genty, a tailor in the Palais-Royal, had delivered four chasseur uniforms, ordered by Raoul Gaillard, and Debausseaux, a tailor at Aumale, during one of their journeys had measured some of Monnier’s guests for cloaks and breeches of green cloth, which only needed metal buttons to be transformed into dragoon uniforms.

Querelle’s denunciations put a stop to all these preparations.  Nothing remained but to run to earth again.  A great many of the conspirators succeeded in doing this, but all were not so fortunate.  The first one seized by Real’s men was Louis Picot, Georges’ servant.  He was a coarse, rough man, entirely devoted to his master, under whose orders he had served in the Veudee.  He was taken to the Prefecture and promised immediate liberty in exchange for one word that would put the police on the track of Georges.  He was offered 1,500 louis d’or, which they took care to count out before him, and on his refusal to betray his master, Real had him put to the torture.  Bertrand, the concierge of the depot, undertook the task.  The unfortunate Picot’s fingers were crushed by means of an old gun and a screw-driver, his feet were burned in the presence of the officers of the guard.  He revealed nothing.  “He has borne everything with criminal resignation,” the judge-inquisitor, Thuriot, wrote to Real; “he is a fanatic, hardened by crime.  I have now left him to solitude and suffering; I will begin again to-morrow; he knows where Georges is hidden and must be made to reveal it.”

The next day the torture was continued, and this time agony wrung the address of the Chaillot house from Picot.  They hastened there—­only to find it empty.  But the day had not been wasted, for the police, on an anonymous accusation, had seized Bouvet de Lozier as he was entering the house of his mistress, Mme. de Saint-Leger, in the Rue Saint-Sauveur.  He was interrogated and denied everything.  Thrown into the Temple, he hanged himself in the night, by tying his necktie to the bars of his cell.  A gaoler hearing his death-rattle, opened the door and took him down; but Bouvet, three-quarters dead, as soon as they had brought him to, was seized with convulsive tremblings, and in his delirium he spoke.