Reflect--it rests with you to go to the Assize Court
as a witness, or an accomplice."
Although the widow seemed crushed by this unexpected blow, the
magistrate did not add another word. Her deposition was read over to
her, she signed it, and was then led away.
M. Segmuller immediately seated himself at his desk, filled up a blank
form and handed it to his clerk, saying: "This is an order for the
governor of the Depot. Tell him to send the supposed murderer here at
once."
X
If it is difficult to extort a confession from a man interested in
preserving silence and persuaded that no proofs can be produced against
him, it is a yet more arduous task to make a woman, similarly situated,
speak the truth. As they say at the Palais de Justice, one might as well
try to make the devil confess.
The examination of the Widow Chupin had been conducted with the greatest
possible care by M. Segmuller, who was as skilful in managing his
questions as a tried general in maneuvering his troops.
However, all that he had discovered was that the landlady of the
Poivriere was conniving with the murderer. The motive of her connivance
was yet unknown, and the murderer's identity still a mystery. Both M.
Segmuller and Lecoq were nevertheless of the opinion that the old hag
knew everything. "It is almost certain," remarked the magistrate, "that
she was acquainted with the people who came to her house--with the
women, the victims, the murderer--with all of them, in fact.
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