than any you may have made previously."

"But, if I had received this secret under the seal of the confessional,"
said the abbe, "you certainly would not urge me to reveal it."

"I believe, Monsieur l'Abbe," said the president, "that it is some time
since you confessed any one."

At this unbecoming remark I noticed an expression of mirth on John
Mauprat's face--a fiendish mirth, which brought back to me the man as I
knew him of old, convulsed with laughter at the sight of suffering and
tears.

The annoyance which the abbe felt at this personal attack gave him the
courage which might otherwise have been wanting. He remained for a few
moments with downcast eyes. They thought that he was humiliated; but,
as soon as he raised his head, they saw his eyes flashing with the
malicious obstinacy of the priest.

"All things considered," he said, in the most gentle tone, "I think that
my conscience bids me keep this secret; I shall keep it."

"Aubert," said the King's advocate, angrily, "you are apparently unaware
of the penalties which the law inflicts on witnesses who behave as you
are doing."

"I am aware of them," replied the abbe, in a still milder tone.

"Doubtless, then, you do not intend to defy them?"

"I will undergo them if necessary," rejoined the abbe, with an
imperceptible smile of pride, and such a dignified bearing that all the
women were touched.

Women are excellent judges of things that are delicately beautiful.

"Very good," replied the public prosecutor. "Do you intend to persist in
this course of silence?"

"Perhaps," replied the abbe.

"Will you tell us whether, during the days that followed this attempt to
murder Mademoiselle de Mauprat, you were in a position to hear the words
she uttered, either during her delirium or during her lucid intervals?"

"I can give you no information on that point," answered the abbe. "It
would be against my inclinations, and, moreover, in my eyes, an outrage
on propriety, to repeat words which, in the case of delirium, could
prove absolutely nothing, and, if uttered in a lucid moment, could only
have been the outpouring of a genuinely filial affection."

"Very good," said the King's advocate, rising. "We shall call upon the
Court to deliberate on your refusal of evidence, taking this incident in
connection with the main question."

"And I," said the president, "in virtue of my discretionary power, do
order that Aubert be meanwhile arrested and taken to pris