ad the said
testimony aloud.

"Do you now confirm your own statement?" said the president, addressing
Marthe.

Michu looked at his wife, and Marthe, who saw her fatal error, fainted
away and fell to the floor. It may be truly said that a thunderbolt had
fallen upon the prisoners and their counsel.

"I never wrote to my wife from prison, and I know none of the persons
employed there," said Michu.

Bordin passed to him the fragments of the letter Marthe had received.
Michu gave but one glance at it. "My writing has been imitated," he
said.

"Denial is your last resource," said the public prosecutor.

The senator was introduced into the courtroom with all the ceremonies
due to his position. His entrance was like a stage scene. Malin (now
called Comte de Gondreville, without regard to the feelings of the late
owners of the property) was requested by the president to look at the
prisoners, and did so with great attention and for a long time. He
stated that the clothing of his abductors was exactly like that worn
by the four gentlemen; but he declared that the trouble of his mind had
been such that he could not be positive that the accused were really the
guilty parties.

"More than that," he said, "it is my conviction that these four
gentlemen had nothing to do with it. The hands that blindfolded me in
the forest were coarse and rough. I should rather suppose," he added,
looking at Michu, "that my old enemy took charge of that duty; but I beg
the gentlemen of the jury not to give too much weight to this remark. My
suspicions are very slight, and I feel no certainty whatever--for this
reason. The two men who seized me put me on horseback behind the man who
blindfolded me, and whose hair was red like Michu's. However singular
you may consider the observation I am about to make, it is necessary
to make it because it is the ground of an opinion favorable to the
accused--who, I hope, will not feel offended by it. Fastened to the
man's back I would naturally have been affected by his odor--yet I
did not perceive that which is peculiar to Michu. As to the person who
brought me provisions on three several occasions, I am certain it was
Marthe, the wife of Michu. I recognized her the first time she came by
a ring she always wore, which she had forgotten to remove. The Court and
jury will please allow for the contradictions which appear in the facts
I have stated, which I myself am wholly unable to reconcile."

A murmur of