“I do not deny that I am the man,” replied Hyde, calmly.  “But I am innocent, and only ask a fair trial.”

“We must arrest you, anyway.  Keep what you have to say for the judge.  Come! bring them along; it’s altogether a fine morning’s work.”

And within an hour Hyde found himself in his old quarters—­a separate cell of the depot of the Prefecture.  The other prisoners were lodged there also, but apart from him and each other.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE SCALES REMOVED.

The capture made by the police in the Faubourg St. Martin was kept secret.  Under the Second Empire nothing was published except with the permission of the authorities, and they had their reasons for not talking too openly of Hyde’s arrest.  He was a British subject, a military officer moreover, and these were claims to the consideration of French justice that would not have been so readily recognised fifteen years before.

It was, of course, inevitable that the affair of Tinplate Street should be re-opened.  But a new complexion was given to it by the recent arrests.  Hyde had been interrogated at once by the magistrate who had examined him before; the same man, but so different; no longer insolently positive and threatening unjustly, but bland, considerate, obliging.  The fact was he had had a hint from his superiors to treat the Englishman gently.

“The truth must come out now,” Hyde had said, when asked if he remembered the circumstances of his former arrest.  “You have the real culprit in custody.”

“This Ledantec, I suppose?” asked the judge.

“It was he who struck the blow; I saw him with my own eyes, as I told you years ago.  Then he escaped by the window into a back-street; I followed him, but he was too quick for me.  A cab waited for him, picked him up, and he was driven away.”

While Hyde was speaking the judge had turned over the pages of a voluminous document in front of him,—­a detailed report of the previous interrogation.

“Your story does not vary.  You have either an excellent memory, or—­” and the stern magistrate smiled quite archly—­“or you are really telling me the truth.”

“The truth!  I can swear to it.”

“What is more, your story is in the main corroborated.  Shortly after your escape we laid hands on the very cabman who had helped Ledantec away.  He described the scene as you have, and through him we got upon the trace of his fare—­Ledantec, as you call him.”

“But you never arrested him?”

“Until now he carefully kept away from Paris.”

“But you have him now on a double charge.”

“Him and his accomplice.  Justice will be satisfied, never fear.”

“How long will you keep me here?”

“I regret that for the present it will be impossible to release you.  We are compelled first to verify the facts before us.  But in a few days at the latest I hope your trouble will be at an end.  You have powerful friends, Monsieur.”