he held out to the senator the rest of
the provisions.

"What do they want of me?" he asked.

Marthe departed giving him no answer. By five o'clock she had reached
the edge of the forest and was warned by Couraut of the presence of
strangers. She retraced her steps and made for the pavilion where she
had lived so long; but just as she entered the avenue she was seen from
afar by the forester of Gondreville, and she quickly reflected that her
best plan was to go straight up to him.

"You are out early, Madame Michu," he said, accosting her.

"We are so unfortunate," she replied, "that I am obliged to do a
servant's work myself. I am going to Bellache for some grain."

"Haven't you any at Cinq-Cygne?" said the forester.

Marthe made no answer. She continued on her way and reached the farm at
Bellache, where she asked Beauvisage to give her some seed-grain, saying
that Monsieur d'Hauteserre advised her to get it from him to renew her
crop. As soon as Marthe had left the farm, the forester went there to
find out what she asked for.

Six days later, Marthe, determined to be prudent, went at midnight with
her provisions so as to avoid the keepers who were evidently patrolling
the forest. After carrying a third supply to the senator she suddenly
became terrified on hearing the abbe read aloud the public examination
of the prisoners,--for the trial was by that time begun. She took the
abbe aside, and after obliging him to swear that he would keep the
secret she was about to reveal as though it was said to him in the
confessional, she showed him the fragments of Michu's letter, told him
the contents of it, and also the secret of the hiding-place where the
senator then was.

The abbe at once inquired if she had other letters from her husband that
he might compare the writing. Marthe went to her home to fetch them and
there found a summons to appear in court. By the time she returned to
the chateau the abbe and his sister had received a similar summons on
behalf of the defence. They were obliged therefore to start for Troyes
immediately. Thus all the personages of our drama, even those who were
only, as it were, supernumeraries, were collected on the spot where the
fate of the two families was about to be decided.

CHAPTER XVII. THE TRIAL

There are but few localities in France where Law derives from outward
appearance the dignity which ought always to accompany it. Yet it
surely is, after religion and royalty, t