Mole had once more turned over on his palliasse and, apparently, had gone to sleep.  Hebert, with a strange and puzzled laugh, followed his chief out of the cell.

XI

At first Chauvelin had the wish to go back and see the Public Prosecutor—­to speak with him—­to tell him—­what?  Yes, what?  That he, Chauvelin, had all of a sudden been assailed with the same doubts which already had worried Hebert and the others?—­that he had told a deliberate lie when he stated that the incriminating doggerel rhyme had been found in Mole’s cell?  No, no!  Such an admission would not only be foolish, it would be dangerous now, whilst he himself was scarce prepared to trust to his own senses.  After all, Fouquier-Tinville was in the right frame of mind for the moment.  Paul Mole, whoever he was, was safely under lock and key.

The only danger lay in the direction of the house on the Chemin de Pantin.  At the thought Chauvelin felt giddy and faint.  But he would allow himself no rest.  Indeed, he could not have rested until something approaching certainty had once more taken possession of his soul.  He could not—­would not—­believe that he had been deceived.  He was still prepared to stake his very life on the identity of the prisoner at the Abbaye.  Tricks of light, the flash of the lantern, the perfection of the disguise, had caused a momentary illusion—­nothing more.

Nevertheless, that awful feeling of restlessness which had possessed him during the last twenty-four hours once more drove him to activity.  And although commonsense and reason both pulled one way, an eerie sense of superstition whispered in his ear the ominous words, “If, after all!”

At any rate, he would see the Leridans, and once more make sure of them; and, late as was the hour, he set out for the lonely house on the Pantin Road.

Just inside the Barriere du Combat was the Poste de Section, where Commissary Burban was under orders to provide a dozen men of the Surete, who were to be on the watch round and about the house of the Leridans.  Chauvelin called in on the Commissary, who assured him that the men were at their post.

Thus satisfied, he crossed the Barriere and started at a brisk walk down the long stretch of the Chemin de Pantin.  The night was dark.  The rolling clouds overhead hid the face of the moon and presaged the storm.  On the right, the irregular heights of the Buttes Chaumont loomed out dense and dark against the heavy sky, whilst to the left, on ahead, a faintly glimmering, greyish streak of reflected light revealed the proximity of the canal.

Close to the spot where the main Route de Meux intersects the Chemin de Pantin, Chauvelin slackened his pace.  The house of the Leridans now lay immediately on his left; from it a small, feeble ray of light, finding its way no doubt through an ill-closed shutter, pierced the surrounding gloom.  Chauvelin, without hesitation, turned up a narrow track which led up to the house across a field of stubble.  The next moment a peremptory challenge brought him to a halt.