nce?"

"You exclaimed: 'Ah, it's the Prussians who are coming; I'm lost!' What
did you mean by that?"

A fleeting crimson tinge suffused the prisoner's cheek. It was evident
that if he had anticipated the other questions, and had been prepared
for them, this one, at least, was unexpected. "It's very strange," said
he, with ill-disguised embarrassment, "that I should have said such a
thing!"

"Five persons heard you," insisted the magistrate.

The prisoner did not immediately reply. He was evidently trying to gain
time, ransacking in his mind for a plausible explanation. "After all,"
he ultimately said, "the thing's quite possible. When I was with M.
Simpson, we had with us an old soldier who had belonged to Napoleon's
body-guard and had fought at Waterloo. I recollect he was always
repeating that phrase. I must have caught the habit from him."

This explanation, though rather slow in coming, was none the less
ingenious. At least, M. Segmuller appeared to be perfectly satisfied.
"That's very plausible," said he; "but there is one circumstance that
passes my comprehension. Were you freed from your assailants before the
police entered the place? Answer me, yes or no."

"Yes."

"Then why, instead of making your escape by the back door, the existence
of which you had divined, did you remain on the threshold of the door
leading into the back room, with a table before you to serve as a
barricade, and your revolver leveled at the police, as if to keep them
at bay?"

The prisoner hung his head, and the magistrate had to wait for his
answer. "I was a fool," he stammered at last. "I didn't know whether
these men were police agents or friends of the fellows I had killed."

"In either case your own interest should have induced you to fly."

The prisoner remained silent.

"Ah, well!" resumed M. Segmuller, "let me tell you my opinion. I believe
you designedly and voluntarily exposed yourself to the danger of being
arrested in order to protect the retreat of the two women who had just
left."

"Why should I have risked my own safety for two hussies I did not even
know?"

"Excuse me. The prosecution is strongly inclined to believe that you
know these two women very well."

"I should like to see any one prove that!" So saying, the prisoner
smiled sneeringly, but at once changed countenance when the magistrate
retorted in a tone of assurance: "I will prove it."

XII

M. Segmuller certainly wished that a number h