detective.

He had every reason, while speaking, to admire the old fellow's
penetration. In all his life, his eloquence had never produced so
striking an effect. Every sentence, every word, told. The prisoner's
assurance, already shaken, fell little by little, just like the outer
coating of a wall when riddled with bullets.

Albert was, as the magistrate perceived, like a man, who, rolling to
the bottom of a precipice, sees every branch and every projecture which
might retard his fall fail him, and who feels a new and more painful
bruise each time his body comes in contact with them.

"And now," concluded the investigating magistrate, "listen to good
advice: do not persist in a system of denying, impossible to sustain.
Give in. Justice, rest assured, is ignorant of nothing which it is
important to know. Believe me; seek to deserve the indulgence of your
judges, confess your guilt."

M. Daburon did not believe that his prisoner would still persist
in asserting his innocence. He imagined he would be overwhelmed and
confounded, that he would throw himself at his feet, begging for mercy.
But he was mistaken.

Albert, in spite of his great prostration, found, in one last effort
of his will, sufficient strength to recover himself and again
protest,--"You are right, sir," he said in a sad, but firm voice;
"everything seems to prove me guilty. In your place, I should have
spoken as you have done; yet all the same, I swear to you that I am
innocent."

"Come now, do you really--" began the magistrate.

"I am innocent," interrupted Albert; "and I repeat it, without the least
hope of changing in any way your conviction. Yes, everything speaks
against me, everything, even my own bearing before you. It is true, my
courage has been shaken by these incredible, miraculous, overwhelming
coincidences. I am overcome, because I feel the impossibility of proving
my innocence. But I do not despair. My honour and my life are in the
hands of God. At this very hour when to you I appear lost,--for I in no
way deceive myself, sir,--I do not despair of a complete justification.
I await confidently."

"What do you mean?" asked the magistrate.

"Nothing but what I say, sir."

"So you persist in denying your guilt?"

"I am innocent."

"But this is folly--"

"I am innocent."

"Very well," said M. Daburon; "that is enough for to-day. You will hear
the official report of your examination read, and will then be taken
back to solitary c