It is just to add that the details of what had taken place at Arras were not yet known.
All day long conversations like the following were to be heard in all quarters of the town:--
"You don't know?
He was a liberated convict!"
"Who?"
"The mayor." "Bah!
M. Madeleine?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"His name was not Madeleine at all; he had a frightful name, Bejean, Bojean, Boujean."
"Ah! Good God!"
"He has been arrested."
"Arrested!"
"In prison, in the city prison, while waiting to be transferred."
"Until he is transferred!"
"He is to be transferred!"
"Where is he to be taken?"
"He will be tried at the Assizes for a highway robbery which he committed long ago."
"Well!
I suspected as much. That man was too good, too perfect, too affected.