ing-jacket of maroon-colored
velveteen, an old straw hat, and a pair of dun-colored leather boots. By
their side lie a double-barrelled gun, packages of cartridges, two bowls
filled with small-shot, and, finally, a large china basin, with a dark
sediment at the bottom.

P.--(Showing these objects to the accused.) Are those the clothes which
you wore the evening of the crime?

A.--Yes, sir.

P.--A curious costume in which to visit a venerable ecclesiastic, and to
perform religious duties.

A.--The priest at Brechy was my friend. Our intimacy will explain, even
if it does not justify, the liberty I took.

P.--Do you also recognize this basin? The water has been allowed to
evaporate, and the residue alone remains there on the bottom.

A.--It is true, that, when the magistrate appeared at my house, he found
there the basin full of dark water, which was thick with half-burnt
_debris_. He asked me about this water, and I did not hesitate a moment
to tell him that I had washed my hands in it the evening before, after
my return home.

Is it not evident, that if I had been guilty, my first effort would
have been to put every evidence of my crime out of the way? And yet this
circumstance is looked upon as the strongest evidence of my guilt, and
the prosecution produces it as the most serious charge against me.

P.--It is very strong and serious indeed.

A.--Well, nothing can be more easily explained than that. I am a great
smoker. When I left home the evening of the crime, I took cigars in
abundance; but, when I was about to light one, I found that I had no
matches.

M. Magloire rises, and says,--

"And I wish to point out that this is not one of those explanations
which are invented, after the fact, to meet the necessities of a
doubtful case. We have absolute and overwhelming proof of it. M. de
Boiscoran did not have the little match-box which he usually carries
about him, at that time, because he had left it at M. de Chandore's
house, on the mantelpiece, where I have seen it, and where it still is."

P.--That is sufficient, M. Magloire. Let the defendant go on.

A.--I wanted to smoke; and so I resorted to the usual expedient, which
all sportsmen know. I tore open one of my cartridges, put, instead of
the lead, a piece of paper inside, and set it on fire.

P.--And thus you get a light?

A.--Not always, but certainly in one case out of three.

P.--And the operation blackens the hands?

A.--Not the operation