them, for they have a right to be considered as innocent until a jury
has decided to the contrary. To while away the time, May next asked for
a volume of Beranger's songs, and his request being granted, he spent
most of the day in learning several of the ditties by heart, singing
them in a loud voice and with considerable taste. This fancy having
excited some comment, he pretended that he was cultivating a talent
which might be useful to him when he was set at liberty. For he had no
doubt of his acquittal; at least, so he declared; and if he were anxious
about the date of his trial, he did not show the slightest apprehension
concerning its result.

He was never despondent save when he spoke of his profession. To all
appearance he pined for the stage, and, in fact, he almost wept when he
recalled the fantastic, many-colored costumes, clad in which he had once
appeared before crowded audiences--audiences that had been convulsed
with laughter by his sallies of wit, delivered between bursts of noisy
music. He seemed to have become altogether a better fellow; more frank,
communicative, and submissive. He eagerly embraced every opportunity
to babble about his past, and over and over again did he recount the
adventures of the roving life he had led while in the employ of M.
Simpson, the showman. He had, of course, traveled a great deal; and
he remembered everything he had seen; possessing, moreover, an
inexhaustible fund of amusing stories, with which he entertained his
custodians. His manner and his words were so natural that head keepers
and subordinate turnkeys alike were quite willing to give credit to his
assertions.

The governor of the Depot alone remained unconvinced. He had declared
that this pretended buffoon must be some dangerous criminal who had
escaped from Cayenne, and who for this reason was determined to conceal
his antecedents. Such being this functionary's opinion, he tried every
means to substantiate it. Accordingly, during an entire fortnight,
May was submitted to the scrutiny of innumerable members of the police
force, to whom were added all the more notable private detectives of the
capital. No one recognized him, however, and although his photograph was
sent to all the prisons and police stations of the empire, not one of
the officials could recognize his features.

Other circumstances occurred, each of which had its influence, and one
and all of them speaking in the prisoner's favor. For instance, th