— 5 — THE PAPER
IN THE CONFESSIONALM. de La Reynie admitted him instantly to his office — he had, indeed, been waiting for him — and Desgrez related what had happened at the Louvre and his interview with M. de Saint-Maurice.
“It was obviously, Monsieur, an attempt to bribe me, to get me out of the way. Saint-Maurice didn’t trouble to disguise his intention. He offered me almost anything I might like to ask for, if I would drop these investigations and leave Paris. He thinks I know too much. But of what knowledge am I suspected, Monsieur? I have been thinking over the whole affair. I cannot put two and two together.”
“I certainly did not think,” smiled M. de La Reynie, with a sparkle of excitement in his tired eyes, “that when we were tracking our quarry we should come upon the Court of
