"
Lecoq was delighted. This part of the prisoner's narrative not merely
agreed with the doctor's statements, but also confirmed his own
researches. The young detective felt that, had he been the examiner,
he would have conducted the investigation in precisely the same way.
Accordingly, he thanked heaven that M. Segmuller had supplied the place
of M. d'Escorval.
"This admitted," resumed the magistrate, "it remains for you to explain
a sentence you uttered when the agent you see here arrested you."
"What sentence?"
"You exclaimed: 'Ah, it's the Prussians who are coming; I'm lost!' What
did you mean by that?"
A fleeting crimson tinge suffused the prisoner's cheek. It was evident
that if he had anticipated the other questions, and had been prepared
for them, this one, at least, was unexpected. "It's very strange," said
he, with ill-disguised embarrassment, "that I should have said such a
thing!"
"Five persons heard you," insisted the magistrate.
The prisoner did not immediately reply. He was evidently trying to gain
time, ransacking in his mind for a plausible explanation. "After all,"
he ultimately said, "the thing's quite possible. When I was with M.
Simpson, we had with us an old soldier who had belonged to Napoleon's
body-guard and had fought at Waterloo. I recollect he was always
repeating that phrase. I must have caught the habit from him."
This explanation, though rather slow in coming, was none the less
ingenious.
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