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And it was at night, at a distance of twelve or fifteen metres, through a window, whose panes were obscured by the dust of papers and the mist, that this sick woman, whose eyes are affected, whose mind is weakened by suffering, was able, in a very short space of time, when she had no interest to imprint upon her memory what she saw, to grasp certain signs, that she recalled yesterday strongly enough to declare that the man who drew the curtains was not Florentin Cormier, against whom so many charges have accumulated from various sides, and who has only this testimony in his favor every sensible person could not but find it suspicious!"
"No; that is to say, yes. There was one who asked me if Monsieur Caffie was at home; but I know him well; that is why I answered No." "And who is he?" "One of Monsieur Caffies old clerks." "His name?" "Monsieur Florentin Monsieur Florentin Cormier." Saniel's hand was arrested at this name, but he did not raise his head. "At what hour did he come?" asked the commissioner.
You came to tell mamma!" she exclaimed, on seeing Saniel. Ordinarily her mother listened to her respectfully, but now she interrupted her. "And Madame Dammauville?" she asked. "Madame Dammauville has excellent eyes. She is a woman of intellect, who, without the assistance of any business man, manages her fortune." Overcome, Madame Cormier fell into a chair. "Oh, the poor child!" she murmured.
As to the experiment made on the mother, it was decisive enough to inspire him with confidence. If Madame Cormier, who had seen him so often and for so long a time, and who thought of him at every instant, did not recognize him, how was it possible that Madame Dammauville, who had only seen him from a distance and for a few seconds, could recognize him after several months?
"This is an examination," Saniel said, "that a physician could not have conducted better, unless he questioned the patient; and had I been with you during this visit we should not have learned anything more. It appears certain that Madame Dammauville is in possession of her faculties, which renders her testimony invulnerable." Madame Cormier drew her daughter to her and kissed her passionately.
"Because you were too unhappy, my poor boy!" Madame Cormier said, whose maternal heart was moved by this cry. "Am I happier here, or shall I be to-morrow? What does this to-morrow, full of uncertainty and dangers, hold for us?" "Why do you insist that it has only dangers?" Phillis asked, in a conciliating and caressing tone. "You always expect the good."
"Well, if I had the money necessary for the voyage, I would go and pass the end of the winter in a country where it would be less disagreeable than here, and, above all, less dangerous for my constitution." "You do not say that seriously, I hope?" cried Madame Cormier. "On the contrary, very seriously." "We are hardly reunited, and you think of a separation," she said, sadly.
She would make her deposition in these conditions, and in these terms, and the affair would be finished. There would not be a judge, after this confrontation, who would send Florentin Cormier before the assizes, and, assuredly, there would not be two voices in the jury for conviction. But things will not happen like this.
It was between a quarter past and half past five o'clock that Caffie was assassinated; at exactly a quarter past five, a woman of respectable position, and whose intellectual as well as physical faculties render her worthy of being believed, saw in Caffies office a man, with whom it is materially impossible to confound Florentin Cormier, draw the curtains of the window, and thus prepare for the crime.
"I reached his house about a quarter to three, and I left about half-past three." "Did he give you the certificate for which you asked?" "Yes; here it is." And, taking it from his pocket, he presented it to the judge. It was a paper saying that, during the time that M. Florentin Cormier was his clerk, Caffie was entirely satisfied with him; with his work, as with his accuracy and probity.
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