Suddenly he made up his mind, and, stepping up briskly, he threw down three sous, seized a paper, and ran as if they had all known him. “Not very polite, the gentleman,” remarked two idlers whom he had pushed a little roughly. Quick as he had been, a shopkeeper of the Rue Turenne had had time to recognize him. “Why, that’s the cashier’s son!” he exclaimed. “Is it possible?” “Why don’t they arrest him?” Half a dozen curious fellows, more eager than the rest, ran after him to try and see his face. But he was already far off. Leaning against a gas-lamp on the Boulevard, he unfolded the paper he had just bought. He had no trouble looking for the article. In the middle of the first page, in the most prominent position, he read in large letters, “At the moment of going to press, the greatest agitation prevails among the stock-brokers and operators at the bourse generally, owing to the news that one of our great banking establishments has just been the victim of a theft of unusual magnitude. “At about five o’clock in the afternoon, the manager of the Mutual Credit Society, having need of some documents, went to look for them in the office of the head cashier, who was then absent. A memorandum forgotten on the table excited his suspicions. Sending at once for a locksmith, he had all the drawers broken open, and soon acquired the irrefutable evidence that the Mutual Credit had been defrauded of sums, which, as far as now known, amount to upwards of twelve millions. “At once the police was notified; and M. Brosse, commissary of police, duly provided with a warrant, called at the guilty cashier’s house. “That cashier, named Favoral,--we do not hesitate to name him, since his name has already been made public,--had just sat down to dinner with some friends. Warned, no one knows how, he succeeded in escaping through a window into the yard of the adjoining house, and up to this hour has succeeded in eluding all search. “It seems that these embezzlements had been going on for years, but had been skillfully concealed by false entries. “M. Favoral had managed to secure the esteem of all who knew him. He led at home a more than modest existence. But that was only, as it were, his official life. Elsewhere, and under another name, he indulged in the most reckless expenses for the benefit of a woman with whom he was madly in love. “Who this woman is, is not yet exactly known. “Some mention a very fascinating young actress, who performs at a theatre not a hundred miles from the Rue Vivienne; others, a lady of the financial high life, whose equipages, diamonds, and dresses are justly famed.