ter the capture of the keep; and the
whole town of La Chatre, on the day when Edmee was shot, had seen the
Trappist engaged with the Carmelite prior from morning till night in
conducting the procession and services for the pilgrimage of Vaudevant.
These depositions, therefore, so far from being favourable to me,
produced a very bad effect, and threw odium on my defence. The Trappist
conclusively proved his alibi, and the prior of the Carmelites helped
him to spread a report that I was a worthless villain. This was a time
of triumph for John Mauprat; he proclaimed aloud that he had come to
deliver himself up to his natural judges to suffer punishment for his
crimes in the past; but no one could think of prosecuting such a holy
man. The fanaticism that he inspired in our eminently devout province
was such that no magistrate would have dared to brave public opinion by
proceeding against him. In his own depositions, Marcasse gave an
account of the mysterious and inexplicable appearance of the Trappist
at Roche-Mauprat, the steps he had taken to obtain an interview with M.
Hubert and his daughter, his insolence in entering and terrifying them
in their drawing-room, and the efforts the Carmelite prior had made to
obtain considerable sums of money from me on behalf of this individual.
All these depositions were treated as fairy tales, for Marcasse admitted
that he had not seen the Trappist in any of the places mentioned, and
neither the chevalier nor his daughter was able to give evidence. It
is true that my answers to the various questions put to me confirmed
Marcasse's statements; but as I declared in all sincerity that for
some two months the Trappist had given me no cause for uneasiness or
displeasure, and as I refused to attribute the murder to him, it seemed
for some days as if he would be forever reinstated in public opinion. My
lack of animosity against him did not, however, diminish that which my
judges showed against me. They made use of the arbitrary powers which
magistrates had in bygone days, especially in remote parts of the
provinces, and they paralyzed all my lawyer's efforts by a fierce haste.
Several legal personages, whose names I will not menton, indulged,
even publicly, in a strain of invective against me which ought to have
excluded them from any court dealing with questions of human dignity and
morality. They intrigued to induce me to confess, and almost went so far
as to promise me a favourable verdict if