e to laugh. And
once more I give notice, that, at the first disturbance, I shall order
the room to be cleared.

Then, turning again to the accused, he said,--

P.--Go on!

A.--I went therefore to the priest at Brechy, that evening: unluckily
there was no one at home at the parsonage when I got there. I was
ringing the third or fourth time in vain, when a little peasant-girl
came by, who told me that she had just met the priest at the Marshalls'
Cross-roads. I thought at once I would go and meet him, and went in
that direction. But I walked more than four miles without meeting him. I
thought the girl must have been mistaken, and went home again.

P.--Is that your explanation?

A.--Yes.

P.--And you think it a plausible one?

A.--I have promised to say not what is plausible, but what is true.
I may confess, however, that, precisely because the explanation is so
simple, I did not venture at first to give it. And yet if no crime had
been committed, and I had said the day after, "Yesterday I went to see
the priest at Brechy, and did not find him," who would have seen any
thing unnatural in my statement?

P.--And, in order to fulfil so simple a duty, you chose a roundabout
way, which is not only troublesome, but actually dangerous, right across
the swamps?

A.--I chose the shortest way.

P.--Then, why were you so frightened upon meeting young Ribot at the
Seille Canal?

A.--I was not frightened, but simply surprised, as one is apt to be
when suddenly meeting a man where no one is expected. And, if I was
surprised, young Ribot was not less so.

P.--You see that you hoped to meet no one?

A.--Pardon me, I did not say so. To expect is not the same as to hope.

P.--Why, then did you take such pains to explain your being there?

A.--I gave no explanations. Young Ribot first told me, laughingly, where
he was going, and then I told him that I was going to Brechy.

P.--You told him, also, that you were going through the marshes to shoot
birds, and, at the same time you showed him your gun?

A.--That may be. But is that any proof against me? I think just the
contrary. If I had had such criminal intentions as the prosecution
suggests, I should certainly have gone back after meeting people,
knowing that I was exposed to great danger. But I was only going to see
my friend, the priest.

P.--And for such a visit you took your gun?

A.--My land lies in the woods and marshes, and there was not a day when
I did not b