I was in expectation of the answer, when one morning I was sent for to the police-office. Imagining that it was the decision of the minister which was to be communicated to me, and impatient to know it, I followed the turnkey with the haste of a man who anticipates agreeable intelligence. I relied on seeing the attorney-general, but—my wife appeared, accompanied by two strangers. I endeavoured to guess the purport of her visit, when, with the most unembarrassed tone in the world, madame Vidocq said to me, "I have come to tell you that the sentence of our divorce has been pronounced. I am going to be married again, and therefore I have judged it best to go through this formality. The clerk will give you a copy of the judgment for perusal."
Except obtaining my freedom, nothing could be more agreeable to me than the dissolution of this marriage, as I was for ever embarrassed with a creature whom I loathed. I do not know if I had sufficient command of myself to restrain my joy, but certainly my countenance must have betokened it; and if, as I have cogent reasons to believe, my successor was present, he retired with a conviction that I did not at all envy him the treasure he was about to possess.
My detention at Douai was painfully prolonged. I was in suspense for five whole months, and nothing arrived from Paris. The attorney-general had evinced much interest for me, but misfortune engenders distrust, and I began to fear that he had led me on with a vain hope, that I might form no plans of escape before the departure of the galley-slaves; and struck with the idea, I again plotted deeply-laid projects for escape.
The jailor, named Wettu, viewing me as gained over and peaceable, showed me various little favours; we frequently dined together tête-a-tête in a small room with one window, which looked on to the Scarpe. It struck me, that with the aid of this opening, which was not grated, some day, after dinner, I could easily take French leave, and depart; only it was absolutely necessary that
