efore the council of
war. The division was to march on the following morning, and the
commanding-officer did not wish to leave Andernach without inquiry into
the crime on the spot where it had been committed. I remained in the
utmost anxiety during the time the council lasted. At last, about
mid-day, Prosper Magnan was brought back. I was then taking my usual
walk; he saw me, and came and threw himself into my arms.

"Lost!" he said, "lost, without hope! Here, to all the world, I am a
murderer." He raised his head proudly. "This injustice restores to me my
innocence. My life would always have been wretched; my death leaves me
without reproach. But is there a future?"

The whole eighteenth century was in that sudden question. He remained
thoughtful.

"Tell me," I said to him, "how you answered. What did they ask you? Did
you not relate the simple facts as you told them to me?"

He looked at me fixedly for a moment; then, after that awful pause, he
answered with feverish excitement:--

"First they asked me, 'Did you leave the inn during the night?' I said,
'Yes.' 'How?' I answered, 'By the window.' 'Then you must have taken
great precautions; the innkeeper heard no noise.' I was stupefied.
The sailors said they saw me walking, first to Andernach, then to the
forest. I made many trips, they said, no doubt to bury the gold and
diamonds. The valise had not been found. My remorse still held me dumb.
When I wanted to speak, a pitiless voice cried out to me, _'You meant
to commit that crime!'_ All was against me, even myself. They asked me
about my comrade, and I completely exonerated him. Then they said to me:
'The crime must lie between you, your comrade, the innkeeper, and
his wife. This morning all the windows and doors were found securely
fastened.' At those words," continued the poor fellow, "I had neither
voice, nor strength, nor soul to answer. More sure of my comrade than
I could be of myself, I could not accuse him. I saw that we were both
thought equally guilty of the murder, and that I was considered the most
clumsy. I tried to explain the crime by somnambulism, and so protect my
friend; but there I rambled and contradicted myself. No, I am lost.
I read my condemnation in the eyes of my judges. They smiled
incredulously. All is over. No more uncertainty. To-morrow I shall be
shot. I am not thinking of myself," he went on after a pause, "but of my
poor mother." Then he stopped, looked up to heaven, and shed no t