e marquis and the young lawyer agreed
with the dreadful view of Bordin. Old d'Hauteserre wept.

"Ah! why did they not listen to the Abbe Goujet and fly!" cried Madame
d'Hauteserre, exasperated.

"If they could have escaped, and you prevented them," said Bordin,
"you have killed them yourselves. Judgment by default gains time; time
enables the innocent to clear themselves. This is the most mysterious
case I have ever known in my life, in the course of which I have
certainly seen and known many strange things."

"It is inexplicable to every one, even to us," said Monsieur de
Grandville. "If the prisoners are innocent some one else has committed
the crime. Five persons do not come to a place as if by enchantment,
obtain five horses shod precisely like those of the accused, imitate the
appearance of some of them, and put Malin apparently underground for the
sole purpose of casting suspicion on Michu and the four gentlemen. The
unknown guilty parties must have had some strong reason for wearing the
skin, as it were, of five innocent men. To discover them, even to get
upon their traces, we need as much power as the government itself, as
many agents and as many eyes as there are townships in a radius of fifty
miles."

"The thing is impossible," said Bordin. "There's no use thinking of it.
Since society invented law it has never found a way to give an innocent
prisoner an equal chance against a magistrate who is pre-disposed
against him. Law is not bilateral. The defence, without spies or
police, cannot call social power to the rescue of its innocent clients.
Innocence has nothing on her side but reason, and reasoning which may
strike a judge is often powerless on the narrow minds of jurymen. The
whole department is against you. The eight jurors who have signed the
indictment are each and all purchasers of national domain. Among the
trial jurors we are certain to have some who have either sold or bought
the same property. In short, we can get nothing but a Malin jury. You
must therefore set up a consistent defence, hold fast to it, and perish
in your innocence. You will certainly be condemned. But there's a court
of appeal; we will go there and try to remain there as long as possible.
If in the mean time we can collect proofs in your favor you must apply
for pardon. That's the anatomy of the business, and my advice. If we
triumph (for everything is possible in law) it will be a miracle; but
your advocate Monsieur de Grandvi