da."

"Are they still living?"

"My father died June 15th, 1530; my mother survived him three years and
twelve days."

"Have you any brothers and sisters?"

"I had one brother, who only lived three months. My four sisters, Inez,
Dorothea, Marietta, and Pedrina, all came to live at Artigues when I did;
they are there still, and they all recognised me."

"What is the date of your marriage?"

"January 10, 1539."

"Who were present at the ceremony?"

"My father-in-law, my mother-in-law, my uncle, my two sisters, Maitre
Marcel and his daughter Rose; a neighbour called Claude Perrin, who got
drunk at the wedding feast; also Giraud, the poet, who composed verses in
our honour."

"Who was the priest who married you?"

"The old cure, Pascal Guerin, whom I did not find alive when I returned."

"What special circumstances occurred on the wedding-day?"

"At midnight exactly, our neighbour, Catherine Boere, brought us the
repast which is known as 'medianoche.' This woman has recognised me, as
also our old Marguerite, who has remained with us ever since the
wedding."

"What is the date of your son's birth?"

"February 10, 1548, nine years after our marriage. I was only twelve
when the ceremony took place, and did not arrive at manhood till several
years later."

"Give the date of your leaving Artigues."

"It was in August 1549. As I left the village, I met Claude Perrin and
the cure Pascal, and took leave of them. I went towards Beauvais, end I
passed through Orleans, Bourges, Limoges, Bordeaux, and Toulouse. If you
want the names of people whom I saw and to whom I spoke, you can have
them. What more can I say?"

Never, indeed, was there a more apparently veracious statement! All the
doings of Martin Guerre seemed to be most faithfully described, and
surely only himself could thus narrate his own actions. As the historian
remarks, alluding to the story of Amphitryon, Mercury himself could not
better reproduce all Sosia's actions, gestures, and words, than did the
false Martin Guerre those of the real one.

In accordance with the demand of the accused, Bertrande de Rolls was
detained in seclusion, in order to remove her from the influence of
Pierre Guerre. The latter, however, did not waste time, and during the
month spent in examining the witnesses cited by Martin, his diligent
enemy, guided by some vague traces, departed on a journey, from which he
did not return alone.

All the witnesses bore out