miraculous, and yet it was perfectly simple. Information had reached the French police that a young Englishman, but just arrived in Paris, and staying at one of the best hotels, had pawned five pieces of valuable jewellery at the Mont de Piété, the great public pawnshop, and out of curiosity they paid him a domiciliary visit. He was found in his room surrounded with portmanteaux crammed full of gems, and was detained pending inquiry. [Illustration: JEWELLERY DÉPÔT, MONT DE PIÉTÉ.] CHAPTER XIII. ENGLISH AND AMERICAN DETECTIVES. English Detectives--Early Prejudices against them Lived Down--The late Mr. Williamson--Inspector Melville--Sir C. Howard Vincent--Dr. Anderson--Mr. Macnaughten--Mr. McWilliam and the Detectives of the City Police--A Country Detective's Experiences--Allan Pinkerton's first Essay in Detection--The Private Inquiry Agent and the Lengths to which he will go. Although the old Bow Street runner either retired from business or set up what we should now call private inquiry offices, the new organisation did not include any members specially devoted to the detection of crime. The want of them caused much inconvenience, and after an existence of fifteen years the Metropolitan Police was strengthened by the employment of a few constables in plain clothes, charged with the particular duty of, so to speak, secretly safeguarding the public. The plan was first adopted by Sir James Graham, when Home Secretary, and only tentatively, for the old distrust and suspicion of secret spies and underhand police processes lingered. There was something unpleasant, people said, in the idea of a disguised police: personal freedom was in danger; and the system was therefore tried on a very small scale.[19] No more than a round dozen were appointed at first--three inspectors and nine sergeants, but very shortly six constables were added as "auxiliaries," and gradually the total became 108, though this was only a small proportion of the total 6,000 which then made up the whole force. The real intention and use of the "plain clothes" police was that they should be ever on the alert, ever at the heels of wrong-doers, and ready to follow up clues or track down criminals unperceived. They quickly overcame the early prejudice against them, and began by their substantial services to win popular esteem. Charles Dickens may be said to have discovered the modern detective. His papers in _Household Words_ were a revelation to the public, and the life portraits he drew of some of the most notable men employed in this comparatively new branch of criminal pursuit did much to turn suspicion into admiration. [Illustration: SIR JAMES GRAHAM, FOUNDER OF THE DETECTIVE SYSTEM.]