time-pieces, candelabra, Etruscan vases, cloths, cachemires, linen, muslins, &c. All these things had been taken from a closet, the entrance to which was cleverly concealed by a large press, so skilfully contrived that the most practised eye could not have discovered the deception. I assisted in the removal, and when it was completed, the press having been carefully replaced, the woman begged of me to accompany her, which I did, and no sooner was she in one of the coaches, ready to start, than I suddenly pulled up the window, and at this previously concerted signal, we were immediately surrounded by the police. The husband and wife were tried at the assizes, and, as may be easily conceived, were overwhelmed beneath the weight of an accusation, in support of which there existed a formidable mass of convicting testimony.
Some persons may perhaps blame the expedient to which I had recourse, in order to free Paris from a receiver of stolen property, who had been for a long time a positive nuisance to the capital. Whether it be approved of or not, I have at least the consciousness of having done my duty; besides, when we wish to overreach scoundrels who are at open war with society, every stratagem is allowable by which to effect their conviction, except endeavouring to provoke the commission of crime.
