"After him! Run! Fifty francs to whoever stops him!"
But Hyde had the heels of them. He ran out and through a little
courtyard at the back communicating with the street. There he found a
_fiacre_, into which he jumped, shouting to the cabman--
"Drive on straight ahead! A napoleon for yourself."
In this way he distanced his pursuers, and half-an-hour later regained
his hotel by a long detour.
Rather agitated and exhausted by the events of the morning, Hyde went
upstairs to his own room to rest and review his situation.
"It is quite evident," he said to himself, "that Cyprienne has tried
to turn the tables on me. I was too open with her. It was incautious
of me to show my hand so soon. Of course the police have been set upon
me--the accused and still unjudged perpetrator of the crime in
Tinplate Street--by her. But has she acted alone in this?
"I doubt it. I doubt whether she would have come to Paris with that
express purpose, or whether the police would have listened to her if
she had.
"But who assisted her? Some one from whom she has no secrets. Were it
not that such a woman is likely to have set up the closest relations
with other miscreants in these past years, I should say that her agent
and accomplice was Ledantec. Ledantec is still alive; I know that, for
I saw him myself on the field of the Alma, rifling the dead.
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