Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
M. Daubigeon and M. Galpin had not yet recovered from their amazement at this account, when somebody knocked timidly at the door. "Come in!" cried Mechinet. The door opened, and the sergeant of gendarmes appeared. "I have been sent here by the attorney-general," he said; "and the servant told me you were up here. We have just caught Trumence." "That man who had escaped from jail?" "Yes.
"Happen what may, I shall always know that my conscience supports me." Then he made great haste to take leave, lest an answer should come from M. Daubigeon. He went out; and as he descended the stairs, he said to himself, "It is losing time to reason with that old fogy who sees in the events of the day only so many opportunities for quotations."
But the gendarme, a model of obedience, had not waited so long: he was already down stairs. "I must leave you, Galpin," said M. Daubigeon, very much excited. "You heard what the man said. We must know what that means at once." But the magistrate was not less excited. "You permit me to accompany you, I hope?" he asked. He had a right to do so. "Certainly," replied the commonwealth attorney.
He had vowed he would answer only in monosyllables; but his anger made him forget his oath. He added in a very severe tone, "Another man would not have been bent exclusively upon proving that M. de Boiscoran was guilty." "I certainly have proved it." "Another man would have tried to solve the mystery." "But I have solved it, I should think." M. Daubigeon bowed ironically, and said,
She told us over and over again that she was quite sure that she saw that statue come up the avenue, and take a place behind the tree which is nearest to the parlor-window." Trumence looked triumphant. "That was I!" he cried. The girl looked at him, and said, only moderately surprised, "That may very well be." "What do you know about it?" asked M. Daubigeon.
They are all in there, in M. Mechinet's office. M. Daubigeon told me to keep it for them. The Marchioness de Boiscoran also was carried there when she was taken ill in the court-room." He accompanied the two gentlemen, while telling them this, to the end of the hall; then he opened a door, and said, "They are in there," and withdrew discreetly.
"More than you, gentlemen, I feel a desire to believe M. de Boiscoran innocent. M. Daubigeon, who knows what I mean, will tell you so. In my heart I pleaded his cause long before you. But I am the representative of the law; and my duty is above my affections. Does it depend on me to set aside Cocoleu's accusation, however stupid, however absurd, it may be?
M. Daubigeon stopped him by a gesture. "Wait!" he said. And, taking up a blank form, he filled it up, rang the bell, and said to an usher of the court who had hastened in, giving him the printed paper, "I want this to be taken immediately. Make haste; and not a word!" Then Trumence was directed to go on; and he said, "There I was, standing in the middle of the street, feeling like a fool.
As if the question had been addressed to some one else, he said coldly, "Will you please show us your hands, sir?" M. de Boiscoran's cheeks turned crimson; and his eyes assumed an expression of strange perplexity. "If this is a joke," he said, "it has perhaps lasted long enough." He was evidently getting angry. M. Daubigeon thought it better to interfere, and thus he said,
One whole side was filled with books of all kinds, unbound or bound, in a way which would have set M. Daubigeon laughing very heartily. A huge cupboard adapted for collections of plants bespoke a passing fancy for botany; while an electric machine recalled the time when the doctor believed in cures by electricity.
Word Of The Day