"He can say very well what he wants to say, the scamp!" added another.
"At all events, I am indebted to him for the life of my children," said the count gently. "He thought of them when I was unconscious, and when no one else remembered them. Come, Cocoleu, come nearer, my friend, don"t be afraid: there is no one here to hurt you."
It was very well the count used such kind words; for Cocoleu was thoroughly terrified by the brutal treatment he had received, and was trembling in all his limbs.
"I am--not--a--afraid," he stammered out.
"Once more I protest," said the physician.
He had found out that he stood not alone in his opinion. Count Claudieuse came to his a.s.sistance, saying,--
"I really think it might be dangerous to question Cocoleu."
But the magistrate was master of the situation, and conscious of all the powers conferred upon him by the laws of France in such cases.
"I must beg, gentlemen," he said, in a tone which did not allow of any reply,--"I must beg to be permitted to act in my own way."
And sitting down, he asked Cocoleu,--
"Come, my boy, listen to me, and try to understand what I say. Do you know what has happened at Valpinson?"
"Fire," replied the idiot.
"Yes, my friend, fire, which burns down the house of your benefactor,--fire, which has killed two good men. But that is not all: they have tried to murder the count. Do you see him there in his bed, wounded, and covered with blood? Do you see the countess, how she suffers?"
Did Cocoleu follow him? His distorted features betrayed nothing of what might be going on within him.
"Nonsense!" growled the doctor, "what obstinacy! What folly!"
M. Galpin heard him, and said angrily,--
"Sir, do not force me to remind you that I have not far from here, men whose duty it is to see that my authority is respected here."
Then, turning again to the poor idiot, he went on,--
"All these misfortunes are the work of a vile incendiary. You hate him, don"t you; you detest him, the rascal!"
"Yes," said Cocoleu.
"You want him to be punished, don"t you?"
"Yes, yes!"
"Well, then you must help me to find him out, so that the gendarmes may catch him, and put him in jail. You know who it is; you have told these people and"--
He paused, and after a moment, as Cocoleu kept silent, he asked,--
"But, now I think of it, whom has this poor fellow talked to?"
Not one of the peasants could tell. They inquired; but no answer came.
Perhaps Cocoleu had never said what he was reported to have said.
"The fact is," said one of the tenants at Valpinson, "that the poor devil, so to say, never sleeps, and that he is roaming about all night around the house and the farm buildings."
This was a new light for M. Galpin; suddenly changing the form of his interrogatory, he asked Cocoleu,--
"Where did you spend the night?"
"In--in--the--court--yard."
"Were you asleep when the fire broke out?"
"No."
"Did you see it commence?"
"Yes."
"How did it commence?"
The idiot looked fixedly at the Countess Claudieuse with the timid and abject expression of a dog who tries to read something in his master"s eyes.
"Tell us, my friend," said the Countess gently,--"tell us."
A flash of intelligence shone in Cocoleu"s eyes.
"They--they set it on fire," he stammered.
"On purpose?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"A gentleman."
There was not a person present at this extraordinary scene who did not anxiously hold his breath as the word was uttered. The doctor alone kept cool, and exclaimed,--
"Such an examination is sheer folly!"
But the magistrate did not seem to hear his words; and, turning to Cocoleu, he asked him, in a deeply agitated tone of voice--
"Did you see the gentleman?"
"Yes."
"Do you know who he is?"