He thought it essential to question all these persons before examining
the prisoner. Several detectives had started off to execute his orders,
and he himself sat in his office, like a general commanding an army,
who sends off his aide-de-camp to begin the battle, and who hopes that
victory will crown his combinations.
Often, at this same hour, he had sat in this office, under circumstances
almost identical. A crime had been committed, and, believing he had
discovered the criminal, he had given orders for his arrest. Was not
that his duty? But he had never before experienced the anxiety of mind
which disturbed him now. Many a time had he issued warrants of arrest,
without possessing even half the proofs which guided him in the present
case. He kept repeating this to himself; and yet he could not quiet his
dreadful anxiety, which would not allow him a moment's rest.
He wondered why his people were so long in making their appearance. He
walked up and down the room, counting the minutes, drawing out his watch
three times within a quarter of an hour, to compare it with the clock.
Every time he heard a step in the passage, almost deserted at that
hour, he moved near the door, stopped and listened.
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