The young advocate did not seem to be fully convinced.
"In that case, there would have been premeditation," he objected; "and how, then, came the gun to be loaded with small-shot?"
"The accomplice had not sense enough to know better."
Although he saw very well the doctor"s drift, M. Folgat started up,--
"What?" he said, "always Cocoleu?"
Dr. Seignebos tapped his forehead with the end of his finger, and replied,--
"When an idea has once made its way in there, it remains fixed. Yes, the countess has an accomplice; and that accomplice is Cocoleu; and, if he has no sense, you see the wretched idiot at least carries his devotion and his discretion very far."
"If what you say is true, doctor, we shall never get the key of this affair; for Cocoleu will never confess."
"Don"t swear to that. There is a way."
He was interrupted by the sudden entrance of his servant.
"Sir," said the latter, "there is a gendarme below who brings you a man who has to be sent to the hospital at once."
"Show them up," said the doctor.
"And, while the servant was gone to do his bidding, the doctor said,--
"And here is the way. Now mind!"
A heavy step was heard shaking the stairs; and almost immediately a gendarme appeared, who in one hand held a violin, and with the other aided a poor creature, who seemed unable to walk alone.
"Goudar!" was on M. Folgat"s lips.
It was Goudar, really, but in what a state! His clothes muddy, and torn, pale, with haggard eyes, his beard and his lips covered with a white foam.
"The story is this," said the gendarme. "This individual was playing the fiddle in the court of the barrack, and we were looking out of the window, when all of a sudden he fell on the ground, rolled about, twisted and writhed, while he uttered fearful howls, and foamed like a mad dog. We picked him up; and I bring him to you."
"Leave us alone with him," said the physician.
The gendarme went out; and, as soon as the door was shut, Goudar cried with a voice full of intense disgust,--
"What a profession! Just look at me! What a disgrace if my wife should see me in this state! Phew!"
And, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped his face, and drew from his mouth a small piece of soap.
"But the point is," said the doctor, "that you have played the epileptic so well, that the gendarmes have been taken in."
"A fine trick indeed, and very creditable."
"An excellent trick, since you can now quite safely go to the hospital.
They will put you in the same ward with Cocoleu, and I shall come and see you every morning. You are free to act now."
"Never mind me," said the detective. "I have my plan."
Then turning to M. Folgat, he added,--
"I am a prisoner now; but I have taken my precautions. The agent whom I have sent to England will report to you. I have, besides, to ask a favor at your hands. I have written to my wife to send her letters to you: you can send them to me by the doctor. And now I am ready to become Cocoleu"s companion, and I mean to earn the house in Vine Street."
Dr. Seignebos signed an order of admission. He recalled the gendarme; and, after having praised his kindness, he asked him to take "that poor devil" to the hospital. When he was alone once more with M. Folgat, he said,--
"Now, my dear friend, let us consult. Shall we speak of what Martha has told us and of Goudar"s plan. I think not; for M. Galpin is watching us; and, if a mere suspicion of what is going on reaches the prosecution, all is lost. Let us content ourselves, then, with reporting to Jacques your interview with the countess; and as to the rest, Silence!"
XXVI.
Like all very clever men, Dr. Seignebos made the mistake of thinking other people as cunning as he was himself. M. Galpin was, of course, watching him, but by no means with the energy which one would have expected from so ambitious a man. He had, of course, been the first to be notified that the case was to be tried in open court, and from that moment he felt relieved of all anxiety.
As to remorse, he had none. He did not even regret any thing. He did not think of it, that the prisoner who was thus to be tried had once been his friend,--a friend of whom he was proud, whose hospitality he had enjoyed, and whose favor he had eagerly sought in his matrimonial aspirations. No. He only saw one thing,--that he had engaged in a dangerous affair, on which his whole future was depending, and that he was going to win triumphantly.
Evidently his responsibility was by no means gone; but his zeal in preparing the case for trial was no longer required. He need not appear at the trial. Whatever must be the result, he thought he should escape the blame, which he should surely have incurred if no true bill had been found. He did not disguise it from himself that he should be looked at askance by all Sauveterre, that his social relations were well-nigh broken off, and that no one would henceforth heartily shake hands with him. But that gave him no concern. Sauveterre, a miserable little town of five thousand inhabitants! He hoped with certainty he would not remain there long; and a brilliant preferment would amply repay him for his courage, and relieve him from all foolish reproaches.
Besides, once in the large city to which he would be promoted, he could hope that distance would aid in attenuating and even effacing the impression made by his conduct. All that would be remembered after a time would be his reputation as one of those famous judges, who, according to the stereotyped phrase, "sacrifice every thing to the sacred interests of justice, who put inflexible duty high above all the considerations that trouble and disturb the vulgar mind, and whose heart is like a rock, against which all human pa.s.sions are helplessly broken to pieces."
With such a reputation, with his knowledge of the world, and his eagerness to succeed, opportunities would not be wanting to put himself forward, to make himself known, to become useful, indispensable even. He saw himself already on the highest rungs of the official ladder. He was a judge in Bordeaux, in Lyons, in Paris itself!
With such rose-colored dreams he fell asleep at night. The next morning, as he crossed the streets, his carriage haughtier and stiffer than ever, his firmly-closed lips, and the cold and severe look of his eyes, told the curious observers that there must be something new.
"M. de Boiscoran"s case must be very bad indeed," they said, "or M.
Galpin would not look so very proud."
He went first to the commonwealth attorney. The truth is, he was still smarting under the severe reproaches of M. Daubigeon, and he thought he would enjoy his revenge now. He found the old book-worm, as usual, among his beloved books, and in worse humor than ever. He ignored it, handed him a number of papers to sign; and when his business was over, and while he was carefully replacing the doc.u.ments in his bag with his monogram on the outside, he added with an air of indifference,--
"Well, my dear sir, you have heard the decision of the court? Which of us was right?"
M. Daubigeon shrugged his shoulders, and said angrily,--
"Of course I am nothing but an old fool, a maniac: I give it up; and I say, like Horace"s man,--
"Stultum me fateor, liceat concedere vires Atque etiam insanum.""
"You are joking. But what would have happened if I had listened to you?"
"I don"t care to know."
"M. de Boiscoran would none the less have been sent to a jury."
"May be."
"Anybody else would have collected the proofs of his guilt just as well as I."