insinuations?"

Derues turned to the magistrate. "Is this charge enough to place me in
the position of a criminal if I do not give a satisfactory explanation?"

"Certainly; you should have thought of that sooner."

"Then," he continued, addressing Monsieur de Lamotte, "I understand you
persist in this odious accusation?"

"I certainly persist in it."

"You have forgotten our friendship, broken all bonds between us: I am in
your eyes only a miserable assassin? You consider my silence as guilty,
you will ruin me if I do not speak?"

"It is true."

"There is still time for reflection; consider what you are doing; I will
forget your insults and your anger. Your trouble is great enough without
my reproaches being added to it. But you desire that I should speak, you
desire it absolutely?"

"I do desire it."

"Very well, then; it shall be as you wish."

Derues surveyed Monsieur de Lamotte with a look which seemed to say, "I
pity you." He then added, with a sigh--

"I am now ready to answer. Your Honour, will you have the kindness to
resume my examination?"

Derues had succeeded in taking up an advantageous position. If he had
begun narrating the extraordinary romance he had invented, the least
penetrating eye must have perceived its improbability, and one would have
felt it required some support at every turn. But since he had resisted
being forced to tell it, and apparently only ceded to Monsieur de
Lamotte's violent persistency, the situation was changed; and this
refusal to speak, coming from a man who thereby compromised his personal
safety, took the semblance of generosity, and was likely to arouse the
magistrate's curiosity and prepare his mind for unusual and mysterious
revelations. This was exactly what Derues wanted, and he awaited the
interrogation with calm and tranquillity.

"Why did you leave Paris?" the magistrate demanded a second time.

"I have already had the honour to inform you that important business
necessitated my absence."

"But you refused to explain the nature of this business. Do you still
persist in this refusal?"

"For the moment, yes. I will explain it later."

"Where have you been? Whence do you return?"

"I have been to Lyons, and have returned thence."

"What took you there?

"I will tell you later."

"In the month of December last, Madame de Lamotte and her son came to
Paris?

"That is so."

"They both lodged in your house?"

"I have no reason to de