mn this man to death it will be
on the very day when I shall give birth to my child."

"But I can't change the laws," said the lawyer.

"Ah! you don't know how to love," she retorted, closing her eyes; then
she turned her head on the pillow and made him an imperative sign to
leave the room.

Monsieur Graslin pleaded strongly but in vain with his fellow-jurymen
for acquittal, giving a reason which some of them adopted; a reason
suggested by his wife:--

"If we do not condemn this man to death, but allow him to live, the des
Vanneaulx will in the end recover their property."

This weighty argument made a division of the jury, into five for
condemnation against seven for acquittal, which necessitated an appeal
to the court; but the judge sided with the minority. According to the
legal system of that day this action led to a verdict of guilty. When
sentence was passed upon him Tascheron flew into a fury which was
natural enough in a man full of life and strength, but which the court
and jury and lawyers and spectators had rarely witnessed in persons who
were thought to be unjustly condemned.

VI. DISCUSSIONS AND CHRISTIAN SOLICITUDES

In spite of the verdict, the drama of this crime did not seem over so
far as the community was concerned. So complicated a case gave rise, as
usually happens under such circumstances, to two sets of diametrically
opposite opinions as to the guilt of the hero, whom some declared to be
an innocent and ill-used victim, and others the worst of criminals.

The liberals held for Tascheron's innocence, less from conviction than
for the satisfaction of opposing the government.

"What an outrage," they said, "to condemn a man because his footprint
is the size of another man's footprint; or because he will not tell you
where he spent the night, as if all young men would not rather die than
compromise a woman. They prove he borrowed tools and bought iron, but
have they proved he made that key? They find a bit of blue linen hanging
to the branch of a tree, possibly put there by old Pingret himself
to scare the crows, though it happens to match a tear in Tascheron's
blouse. Is a man's life to depend on such things as these? Jean-Francois
denies everything, and the prosecution has not produced a single witness
who saw the crime or anything relating to it."

They talked over, enlarged upon, and paraphrased the arguments of the
defence. "Old Pingret! what was he?--a cracked money box!" said t