e when the abduction
took place; if they have not arrested you, it is solely because they
fear to bring a sentimental element into the affair."

"The case cannot be successfully defended," said Monsieur de Grandville.

"The less so," continued Bordin, "because we cannot tell the whole
truth. Michu and the Messieurs de Simeuse and d'Hauteserre must hold to
the assertion that you merely went for an excursion into the forest and
returned to Cinq-Cygne for luncheon. Allowing that we can show you were
in the house at three o'clock (the exact hour at which the attack was
made), who are our witnesses? Marthe, the wife of one of the accused,
the Durieus, and Catherine, your own servants, and Monsieur and Madame
d'Hauteserre, father and mother of two of the accused. Such testimony
is valueless; the law does not admit it against you, and commonsense
rejects it when given in your favor. If, on the other hand, you were to
say you went to the forest to recover eleven hundred thousand francs in
gold, you would send the accused to the galleys as robbers. Judge, jury,
audience, and the whole of France would believe that you took that gold
from Gondreville, and abducted the senator that you might ransack his
house. The accusation as it now stands is not wholly clear, but tell
the truth about the matter and it would become as plain as day; the jury
would declare that the robbery explained the mysterious features,--for
in these days, you must remember, a royalist means a thief. This very
case is welcomed as a legitimate political vengeance. The prisoners are
now in danger of the death penalty; but that is not dishonoring under
some circumstances. Whereas, if they can be proved to have stolen money,
which can never be made to seem excusable, you lose all benefit of
whatever interest may attach to persons condemned to death for other
crimes. If, at the first, you had shown the hiding-places of the
treasure, the plan of the forest, the tubes in which the gold was
buried, and the gold itself, as an explanation of your day's work, it is
possible you might have been believed by an impartial magistrate, but as
it is we must be silent. God grant that none of the prisoners may reveal
the truth and compromise the defence; if they do, we must rely on our
cross-examinations."

Laurence wrung her hands in despair and raised her eyes to heaven with
a despondent look, for she saw at last in all its depths the gulf into
which her cousins had fallen. Th