as
shot in _emeute_ three years ago! See there, monsieur, it is ridiculous!
If any one should know anything about those times, it is I. I was myself
on the very point of becoming a martyr for my country; and as for Jean
Didier, whether rightly or wrongly, he was shot, and there was an end of
him. To pretend that he turns up three years later...."

Marie was crying, and M. Plon thought his eloquence had provoked her
tears, but she put aside his hand, walked to the commissioner, and
dropped on her knees before him.

"Monsieur, if you have a wife--"

"I have not," said the man roughly.

"But your mother! If her son--"

"I have my duty, that is enough," he said in the same tone, "Get up,
Madame Didier, and let me know the truth of all this matter. This
explains your unwillingness that I should return with you. Who's the
man?"

"My husband, monsieur," sobbed Marie, springing up and putting her hand
in Jean's.

"How came he here?"

"Monsieur, he escaped and crawled here."

"And how has he been supported?"

"By me," said the wife simply.

Plon had recoiled during this explanation, and gazed helplessly from one
to the other.

"Go on," said Leblanc, taking out a note-book.

"He has not been out of this room for three years--three years! That is
a long time for a man to be shut up," pleaded Marie, with her heart in
her eyes. "And, _M. le Commissaire_, you must understand it was all a
mistake. He tried to stop them, but they dragged him along, the
Communists, and then one of them turns round and denounces him. There
are very wicked people in the world, _M. le Commissaire_."

"His name?"

Jean answered for her:

"The name of that man was Fort."

Leblanc turned the pages of his note-book more quickly."
Dumont--Court--ah, here it is, 'Jean Didier, glazier, with insurgents;
pointed out as Communist by one Fort; executed on spot.' Is that
correct?"

"He was innocent," said Marie, nervously twisting her fingers.

"But am I to understand that you deny his identity?" said the officer,
turning sharply on Plon. "Speak up, man!"

M. Plon looked round, bewildered. "How could he have got into the
house?"

"Never mind that. What we want is 'yes' or 'no' Is it Jean Didier? Come
close and see for yourself."

"It is like him," said the landlord, examining him from head to foot,
"certainly it is like him; I could almost believe it was he, only--how
could he have got into the house?"

"As to that--where there's a wo