(Now working with the French police force, Vidocq nabs two criminals and persuades them, via a fine meal, to rat out their accomplice. In disguise, he visits the third man and tells him of his friends' unfortunate arrest.)
When they were seated at the table, Pons-Gerard asked who had caught them.
"Vidocq," said [Vidocq].
"If ever he comes my way, I'll give it to him," said Pons-Gerard, pouring out the wine.
"You wouldn't," said Vidocq, "you'd do like the others. You'd say nothing and be the first to give him a drink."
"I'd give him a - !" said Pons-Gerard.
"You'd give him a drink," said Vidocq, "and good wine, too." He held out his glass to be refilled. Pons-Gerard poured.
"I'd die a thousand times over first," he said.
"Die when you're ready," said the Head of the Sureté. "I am Vidocq, and I arrest you." The agents jumped to secure the prisoner and the brawny assassin offered not the slightest resistance. The transition from the sphere of cordiality which Vidocq was so expert in creating was so abrupt that he could hardly believe it had taken place.
p.95, "Vidocq, A Biography," Philip John Stead
