," he said, in a tone of command. "Your personal
grief must make way...."

"What are you saying?"

"Be silent, Marthe. We shall have the explanation which you demand. We
shall have it later. But be silent."

It was a useless piece of blundering. Like all women who love, Marthe
only suffered the more from this semi-avowal. She fired up in her grief:

"No, Philippe, I will not be silent.... I want to know what your words
mean.... You have no right to escape by a subterfuge.... I demand an
immediate explanation, here and now."

She had stood up and, facing her husband, emphasized each of her words
with a short movement of the hand. Seeing that Philippe made no reply,
Le Corbier now joined in:

"Mme. Philippe Morestal is right, monsieur. You must explain yourself
and not so much for her--that is a matter between yourselves--as for me,
for the purpose of the clearness of my enquiry. Ever since we began, you
have kept to a sort of programme settled in advance and easily seen
through. After denying your first depositions, you are trying to
demolish your own father's evidence. The doubt which I was seeking
behind your replies you are now endeavouring to create in my mind by
throwing suspicion upon your father's statements by every means in your
power. I have the right to ask myself if one of those means is not
falsehood--the word is not mine, monsieur, but your wife's--and if the
love of your opinions does not take precedence of the love of truth."

"I am telling the truth, monsieur le ministre."

"Then prove it. Are you giving false evidence now? Or was it on the
former occasions? How am I to know? I require a positive certainty. If I
can't have that, I shall take no notice of what you say and rely upon
the evidence of a witness who, at any rate, has never varied."

"My father is mistaken.... My father is a victim of illusions...."

"Until I receive a proof to the contrary, monsieur, your accusations can
carry no weight with me. They will do so only if you give me an
undeniable proof of your sincerity. Now there is only one that would
bear that undeniable character; and you refuse to supply me with it...."

"But ..."

"I tell you, monsieur," Le Corbier interrupted, impatiently, "that
there is no other question at issue. Either you were on the frontier at
the time of the attack and heard M. Jorance's protests, in which case
your former evidence and M. Morestal's retain all their importance, or
else you were not th