.

The two Martin Guerres were then confronted without changing the
situation in the least; the first showing the same assurance, the same
bold and confident bearing; while the second, calling on God and men to
bear witness to his sincerity, deplored his misfortune in the most
pathetic terms.

The judge's perplexity was great: the affair became more and more
complicated, the question remained as difficult, as uncertain as ever.
All the appearances and evidences were at variance; probability seemed to
incline towards one, sympathy was more in favour of the other, but actual
proof was still wanting.

At length a member of the Parliament, M. de Coras, proposed as a last
chance before resorting to torture, that final means of examination in a
barbarous age, that Bertrande should be placed between the two rivals,
trusting, he said, that in such a case a woman's instinct would divine
the truth. Consequently the two Martin Guerres were brought before the
Parliament, and a few moments after Bertrande was led in, weak, pale,
hardly able to stand, being worn out by suffering and advanced pregnancy.
Her appearance excited compassion, and all watched anxiously to see what
she would do. She looked at the two men, who had been placed at
different ends of the hall, and turning from him who was nearest to her,
went and knelt silently before the man with the wooden leg; then, joining
her hands as if praying for mercy, she wept bitterly. So simple and
touching an action roused the sympathy of all present; Arnauld du Thill
grew pale, and everyone expected that Martin Guerre, rejoiced at being
vindicated by this public acknowledgment, would raise his wife and
embrace her. But he remained cold and stern, and in a contemptuous
tone--

"Your tears, madame," he said; "they do not move me in the least, neither
can you seek to excuse your credulity by the examples of my sisters and
my uncle. A wife knows her husband more intimately than his other
relations, as you prove by your present action, and if she is deceived it
is because she consents to the deception. You are the sole cause of the
misfortunes of my house, and to you only shall I ever impute them."

Thunderstruck by this reproach, the poor woman had no strength to reply,
and was taken home more dead than alive.

The dignified language of this injured husband made another point in his
favour. Much pity was felt for Bertrande, as being the victim of an
audacious deception; bu