of the head, which
signified: "Trust me." He then emptied his glass with the recklessness
that had characterized his drinking for some time, but, strangely
enough, the libation, instead of putting the finishing stroke to his
drunkenness, gave his mind, for the time being, a sort of lucidity.

"The accusation," he continued, with the coolness of an old lawyer,
"rests upon two grounds: first, the presence without cause of the
accused upon the spot where the crime was committed; second, the nature
of the weapon used.--Two simple but peremptory replies will make the
scaffold which has been erected upon this double supposition fall to
the ground. First, Lambernier had a rendezvous at this place, and at
the exact hour when this crime with which he is accused took place; this
will be proved by a witness, and will be established by evidence in a
most indisputable manner. His presence will thus be explained without
its being interpreted in any way against him. Second, the public
prosecutor has admitted that the carrying of a weapon which Lambernier
may have been in the habit of using in his regular trade could not be
used as an argument against him, and for that same reason could not be
used as an argument in favor of premeditation; now, this is precisely
the case in question. This weapon was neither a sword, bayonet, nor
stiletto, nothing that the fertile imagination of the public prosecutor
could imagine; it was a simple tool used by the accused in his
profession, the presence of which in his pocket is as easily understood
as that of a snuff-box in the pocket of my neighbor, the notary, who
takes twenty pinches of snuff a minute. Gentlemen, this weapon was a
pair of carpenter's compasses."

"A compass!" exclaimed several voices at once.

"A compass!" exclaimed the Baron, gazing fixedly at the artist. Then he
carried his hand to his pocket, and suddenly withdrew it, as he felt the
workman's compass there, where it had been ever since the scene upon the
rocks.

"An iron compass," repeated the artist, "about ten inches long, more or
less, the legs of it being closed."

"Will you explain yourself, Monsieur?" excitedly exclaimed the public
prosecutor, "for it really seems as if you had witnessed the crime. In
that case you will be called out as a witness for the defence. Justice
is impartial, gentlemen. Justice has not two pairs of scales."

"To the devil with justice! You must have come from Timbuctoo to use
such old-fashio