At the appointed hour the coach appeared, and out of it got a man in the
Dean's costume. He was arrested in spite of his protestations; the papers
of the murdered Potter were found on him, and he was dragged off to the
police office in triumph. The door opened, and the posse comitatus entered
with the prisoner. Instantly the two witnesses burst out with a cry of
recognition, and turned indignantly on the lieutenant of police. "Gracious
Heaven, sir, what have you done!" they exclaimed in horror; "this is not
Poulailler--here is our venerable friend; here is the Dean himself!" At
the same moment, a servant entered with a letter. "Dean Potter. To the
care of Monsieur Hérault, Lieutenant of Police." The letter was expressed
in these words: "Venerable sir,--Profit by the lesson I have given you.
Be a Christian for the future, and never again try to injure a man unless
he tries to injure you. Entirely yours, Poulailler."
These feats of cool audacity were matched by others, in which his
generosity to the sex asserted itself as magnanimously as ever.
Hearing, one day, that large sums of money were kept in the house of a
great lady, one Madame de Brienne, whose door was guarded, in anticipation
of a visit from the famous thief, by a porter of approved trustworthiness
and courage, Poulailler undertook to rob her in spite of her precautions,
and succeeded. With a stout pair of leather straps and buckles in his
pocket, and with two of his band, disguised as a coachman and footman,
he followed Madame de Brienne one night to the theatre. Just before the
close of the performance, the lady's coachman and footman were tempted
away for five minutes by Poulailler's disguised subordinates to have
a glass of wine. No attempt was made to detain them, or to drug their
liquor. But, in their absence, Poulailler had slipped under the carriage,
had hung his leather straps round the pole--one to hold by, and one to
support his feet--and, with these simple preparations, was now ready
to wait for events. Madame de Brienne entered the carriage--the footman
got up behind--Poulailler hung himself horizontally under the pole, and
was driven home with them, under those singular circumstances. He was
strong enough to keep his position after the carriage had been taken into
the coach-house; and he only left it when the doors were locked for the
night. Provided with food beforehand, he waited patiently, hidden in the
coach-house, for two days and nights, watching his opportunity of getting
into Madame de Brienne's boudoir.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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