You gentlemen pretend
that he conferred first of all with me, and next with the Widow Chupin.
How did that happen? Perhaps after removing him from my cell, some of
your agents obligingly shut him up with the old woman."
Goguet, the clerk, wrote all this down admiringly. "Here," thought he,
"is a man of brain, who understands his case. He won't need any lawyer's
eloquence to put his defense favorably before a jury."
"And after all," continued the prisoner, "what are the proofs against
me? The name of Lacheneur faltered by a dying man; a few footprints on
some melting snow; a sleepy cab-driver's declaration; and a vague doubt
about a drunkard's identity. If that is all you have against me, it
certainly doesn't amount to much--"
"Enough!" interrupted M. Segmuller. "Your assurance is perfect now;
though a moment ago your embarrassment was most remarkable. What was the
cause of it?"
"The cause!" indignantly exclaimed the prisoner, whom this query
had seemingly enraged; "the cause! Can't you see, sir, that you are
torturing me frightfully, pitilessly! I am an innocent man, and you are
trying to deprive me of my life. You have been turning me this way and
that way for so many hours that I begin to feel as if I were standing on
the guillotine. Each time I open my mouth to speak I ask myself, is it
this answer that will send me to the scaffold? My anxiety and dismay
surprise you, do they? Why, since this examination began, I've felt the
cold knife graze my neck at least twenty times.
Pages:
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192