some breakages, traced distinctly in the
wicker-work these twelve letters--Hardquanonne.

Then the sheriff, resuming that monotonous tone of voice which resembles
nothing else, and which may be termed a judicial accent, turned towards
the sufferer.

"Hardquanonne! when by us, the sheriff, this bottle, on which is your
name, was for the first time shown, exhibited, and presented to you, you
at once, and willingly, recognized it as having belonged to you. Then,
the parchment being read to you which was contained, folded and enclosed
within it, you would say no more; and in the hope, doubtless, that the
lost child would never be recovered, and that you would escape
punishment, you refuse to answer. As the result of your refusal, you
have had applied to you the _peine forte et dure_; and the second
reading of the said parchment, on which is written the declaration and
confession of your accomplices, was made to you, but in vain.

"This is the fourth day, and that which is legally set apart for the
confrontation, and he who was deserted on the twenty-ninth of January,
one thousand six hundred and ninety, having been brought into your
presence, your devilish hope has vanished, you have broken silence, and
recognized your victim."

The prisoner opened his eyes, lifted his head, and, with a voice
strangely resonant of agony, but which had still an indescribable calm
mingled with its hoarseness, pronounced in excruciating accents, from
under the mass of stones, words to pronounce each of which he had to
lift that which was like the slab of a tomb placed upon him. He spoke,--

"I swore to keep the secret. I have kept it as long as I could. Men of
dark lives are faithful, and hell has its honour. Now silence is
useless. So be it! For this reason I speak. Well--yes; 'tis he! We did
it between us--the king and I: the king, by his will; I, by my art!"

And looking at Gwynplaine,--

"Now laugh for ever!"

And he himself began to laugh.

This second laugh, wilder yet than the first, might have been taken for
a sob.

The laughed ceased, and the man lay back. His eyelids closed.

The sheriff, who had allowed the prisoner to speak, resumed,--

"All which is placed on record."

He gave the secretary time to write, and then said,--

"Hardquanonne, by the terms of the law, after confrontation followed by
identification, after the third reading of the declarations of your
accomplices, since confirmed by your recognition and c