it over with increasing disappointment
and gave it the minutest analysis, comparing it closely with the
original scribble-paper. For example, he called the attention of the
judge to the fact that "guarded" in one paper was spelled
"gaurded" in the other--some slip I had inadvertently made. He
thought it might now be made a clew to some secret code, but,
though he puzzled long and searchingly over the document, he
extracted from it nothing more than an increased vexation of spirit.

"Nothing on the surface here," Javert said to the judge; "but that
only makes it look the more suspicious. Wait till we hear from the
search of his room."

At this juncture a man in civilian dress arrived, and, handing over
the key of Room Number 502, reported that there was nothing to
bring back. This nettled Javert, and he made and X-ray examination
of my person, even tearing out the lining of my hat. Alas for him too late;
his search disclosed nothing more damnatory than a French
dictionary, which, because I was not an ostrich, I had been unable
to get away with in the afternoon. A few addresses had been
scribbled therein. He demanded a full account of each name.
Some I had really forgotten.

"That's strange," he sneered; "perhaps you don't find it convenient
to remember who they are."

Up till now I hadn't the slightest conception of the charge laid
against me. Suddenly the judge crashed into the affair and took
the initiative.

"Why did you offer money to find out the movement of German
troops!" he let go at me across the table in a loud voice.

At the same time his aides converged on me a full, searching
gaze. Going all day without food, for eight hours confined in a fetid
atmosphere, and for two hours grilled by a dozen inquisitors, is an
ordeal calculated to put the nerves of the strongest on edge.

I simply replied, "I didn't do any such thing."

"Don't lie!" "Tell the whole truth!" "Make a clean breast of it!" "No
use holding anything back!" "We have the witnesses who will
swear you did!" "Best thing for you is to tell all you know!"

This fusillade of command and accusation they roared and
bellowed at me, aiming to break down my defense with the
suddenness of the onslaught. They succeeded for a moment. I
couldn't rally my scattered and worn-out wits to think what the
basis of this preposterous charge might be.

Then I remembered a Dutchman who had accosted me the day
before on a street-car. He had volunteered the inf