He had reached the Bois de Boulogne and still continued his walk.  In passing a fountain the rippling of the water attracted his attention, and he stopped.  Although the weather was damp and cold under the influence of a strong west wind charged with rain, his tongue was dry; he drank two goblets of water, and then pursued his way, indifferent where he went.

Then he built up an arrangement which appeared ingenious to him, when it occurred to him to remember that he had gone to Caffie to borrow three thousand francs.  Why would he not lend it to him, if not the first day, at least the second?  With this loan he paid his debts, if he were questioned on this point.  To prove this loan he need only to sign a receipt which he could place in the safe, and which would be found there.  Would not the first thought of those who had signed a paper of this kind be to take it when an occasion presented itself?  As he would not seize this occasion to carry off his note, it would be the proof that he had not opened the safe.

Among other advantages, this arrangement did away with robbery; it was only a loan.  Later he would return these three thousand francs to Caffies heirs.  So much the worse for him if it were a forced loan.

On returning to Paris he would buy a sheet of stamped paper, and as he had asked the price the previous evening, he knew that he could afford the expense.

When he reached Saint Cloud he entered a tavern and ordered some bread and cheese and wine.  But if he drank little, he ate less, his parched throat refusing to swallow bread.

He took up his march in the clayey streets on the slope of Mont Valerian, but he was insensible to the unpleasantness of slipping on the soft soil, and walked hither and thither, his only care being not to get too far away from the Seine, so that he might enter Paris before night.

He was delighted since he had made up his mind to make out and sign a receipt for the money.  But on giving it further consideration, he perceived that it was not so ingenious as he had at first supposed.  Do not the dealers of stamped paper often number their paper?  With this number it would be easy to find the dealer and him who had bought it.  And then, was it not likely that a scrupulous business man like Caffie would keep a record of the loans he made, and would not the absence of this one and the note be sufficient to awaken suspicion and to direct it to him?

Decidedly, he only escaped one danger to fall into another.

For a moment he was discouraged, but it did not go so far as weakness.  His error had been in imagining that the execution of the idea that had come to him while picking up the knife was as plain as it was easy.  But complicated and perilous as it was, it was not impossible.

The question which finally stood before him was, to know whether he possessed the force needed to cope with these dangers, and on this ground hesitation was not possible; to wish to foresee everything was folly; that which he would not have expected, would come to pass.