"
"Wouldn't you like to take something?"
"No--and yet--if you would be so kind--I should like a glass of water."
"Will you not have some wine with it?"
"I should prefer pure water."
His request was at once complied with. He drained a first glassful at
a single draft; the glass was then replenished and he drank again, this
time, however, more slowly. One might have supposed that he was drinking
in life itself. Certainly, when he laid down the empty glass, he seemed
quite another man.
Eighteen out of every twenty criminals who appear before our
investigating magistrates come prepared with a more or less complete
plan of defense, which they have conceived during their preliminary
confinement. Innocent or guilty, they have resolved, on playing some
part or other, which they begin to act as soon as they cross the
threshold of the room where the magistrate awaits them.
The moment they enter his presence, the magistrate needs to bring all
his powers of penetration into play; for such a culprit's first attitude
as surely betrays his plan of defense as an index reveals a book's
contents. In this case, however, M. Segmuller did not think that
appearances were deceitful. It seemed evident to him that the prisoner
was not feigning, but that the excited frenzy which marked his entrance
was as real as his after stupor.
At all events, there seemed no fear of the danger the governor of the
Depot had spoken of, and accordingly M. Segmuller seated himself at his
desk.
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