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Updated: May 8, 2025
"Because I wanted the great lady to marry M. de Boiscoran." "Ah! She told you to do it, did she?" "Oh, no! But she cried so much; and then she told me she would be so happy if her husband were dead. And she was always good to Cocoleu; and the count was always bad; and so I shot him." "Well! But why, then, did you say it was M. de Boiscoran who shot the count?" "They said at first it was me.
He was, on the contrary, about to ask you, although it is Sunday, to come and be present at a second examination of Cocoleu. I am surprised that you have not received his note, and that you did not meet him at the hospital." "Well, I am going at once."
He knew Cocoleu very well; he had seen him wander through the streets of Sauveterre during the eighteen months which the poor creature had spent under the doctor's treatment. "What! Cocoleu not idiotic?" he repeated. "No!" Dr. Seignebos declared peremptorily; "and you have only to look at him to be convinced.
Whether he be actor, confident, or eye-witness, Cocoleu has evidently the key to this mystery. This key we must make every effort to obtain from him. Medical experts have just declared him idiotic; nevertheless, we protest. We claim that the imbecility of this wretch is partly assumed. We maintain that his obstinate silence is a vile imposture.
He had become animated; and his accent and his gestures made you feel that he was sure of himself. "No," he repeated, "nothing would be lost; and then we should have time before us, while waiting for a second trial, to hunt up our witnesses, and to force Cocoleu to tell the truth. Let the count say what he chooses, I like it all the better: I shall thus be relieved of my last scruples.
Seignebos was discouraged. He made up a parcel of things which he had given to his patient, put it into his hands, pushed him out of his door, and told him never to come back again. The doctor had rendered Cocoleu a sad service.
Do you see him there in his bed, wounded, and covered with blood? Do you see the countess, how she suffers?" Did Cocoleu follow him? His distorted features betrayed nothing of what might be going on within him. "Nonsense!" growled the doctor, "what obstinacy! What folly!" M. Galpin heard him, and said angrily,
"That is one view of it; but it is not the one I take. I rather think that the countess, having been delayed out of doors, was prevented by the fire from getting in again. I think, also, that Cocoleu came very opportunely; and that it was very lucky Providence should inspire his mind with that sublime idea of saving the children at the risk of his life." This time M. Seneschal made no reply.
Since the first question addressed to Cocoleu, up to the present moment, he had not had time to consider. And his proceedings had been public; thus he felt naturally tempted to explain them. "And you call this a legal inquiry?" asked Dr. Seignebos. He had taken off his spectacles, and was wiping them furiously.
Then he went and sat down by M. Magloire, who was already deep in the papers. With the help of those documents, it was easy to follow step by step M. Galpin's work, to see the efforts he had made, and to comprehend his strategy. First of all, the two lawyers looked for the papers concerning Cocoleu. They found none.
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