I at least acknowledged that I
had wounded Mademoiselle de Mauprat accidently. The scorn with which
I met these overtures alienated them altogether. A stranger to all
intrigue, at a time when justice and truth could not triumph except by
intrigue, I was a victim of two redoubtable enemies, the Church and the
Law; the former I had offended in the person of the Carmelite prior; and
the latter hated me because, of the suitors whom Edmee had repulsed, the
most spiteful was a man closely related to the chief magistrate.

Nevertheless, a few honest men to whom I was almost unknown, took an
interest in my case on account of the efforts of others to make my name
odious. One of them, a Monsieur E----, who was not without influence,
for he was the brother of the sheriff of the province and acquainted
with all the deputies, rendered me a service by the excellent
suggestions he made for throwing light on this complicated affair.

Patience, convinced as he was of my guilt, might have served my enemies
without wishing to do so; but he would not. He had resumed his roaming
life in the woods, and, though he did not hide, could never be found.
Marcasse was very uneasy about his intentions and could not understand
his conduct at all. The police were furious to find that an old man was
making a fool of them, and that without going beyond a radius of a few
leagues. I fancy that the old fellow, with his habits and constitution,
could have lived for years in Varenne without falling into their hands,
and, moreover, without feeling that longing to surrender which a sense
of _ennui_ and the horror of solitude so frequently arouse, even in
great criminals.

XXV

The day of the public trial came. I went to face it quite calmly; but
the sight of the crowd filled me with a profound melancholy. No support,
no sympathy for me there! It seemed to me that on such an occasion
I might at least have looked for that show of respect to which the
unfortunate and friendless are entitled. Yet, on all the faces around
I saw nothing but a brutal and insolent curiosity. Girls of the lower
classes talked loudly of my looks and my youth. A large number of women
belonging to the nobility or moneyed classes displayed their brilliant
dresses in the galleries, as if they had come to some _fete_. A great
many monks showed their shaven crowns in the middle of the populace,
which they were inciting against me; from their crowded ranks I could
frequently catch t