"Especially 'bric-à-brac,'" said Jean, with sarcasm.
"Anyhow, mon ami, you now know——"
"That I was unjust to you, yes; pardon me! You could know very little of Beauchamp, since he was able to collect all of this bric-à-brac under your nose."
Mlle. Fouchette reddened, thinking, nervously, of what Inspector Loup would say on that head. Jean saw this color and changed the conversation.
"Come, now, let us go and explore Monsieur de Beauchamp's articles of vertu."
With the bicycle bull's-eye light in hand he led the way back through the secret passage, followed closely by the young girl.
"Monsieur de Beauchamp wasn't the mighty Cæsar in one thing," said Jean, as he squeezed through the narrow opening in the wall.
"How is that?"
"He had only lean men about him,—true conspirators."
"Yes,—it was necessary."