d consider the answer as
not given."

But M. Galpin was one of those men who are blinded by self-conceit,
and who would rather be cut to pieces than admit that they have been
mistaken. He answered,--

"I shall go on."

Then turning once more to Cocoleu, in the midst of so deep a silence
that the buzzing of a fly would have been distinctly heard, he asked,--

"Do you know, my boy, what you say? Do you know that you are accusing a
man of a horrible crime?"

Whether Cocoleu understood, or not, he was evidently deeply agitated.
Big drops of perspiration rolled slowly down his temples; and nervous
shocks agitated his limbs, and convulsed his features.

"I, I--am--telling the--truth!" he said at last.

"M. de. Boiscoran has set Valpinson on fire?"

"Yes."

"How did he do it?"

Cocoleu's restless eyes wandered incessantly from the count, who looked
indignant, to the countess, who seemed to listen with painful surprise.
The magistrate repeated,--

"Speak!"

After another moment's hesitation, the idiot began to explain what
he had seen; and it took him many minutes to state, amid countless
contortions, and painful efforts to speak, that he had seen M. de
Boiscoran pull out some papers from his pocket, light them with a
match, put them under a rick of straw near by, and push the burning mass
towards two enormous piles of wood which were in close contact with a
vat full of spirits.

"This is sheer nonsense!" cried the doctor, thus giving words to what
they all seemed to feel.

But M. Galpin had mastered his excitement. He said solemnly,--

"At the first sign of applause or of displeasure, I shall send for the
gendarmes, and have the room cleared."

Then, turning once more to Cocoleu, he said,--

"Since you saw M. de Boiscoran so distinctly, tell us how he was
dressed."

"He had light trousers on," replied the idiot, stammering still most
painfully, "a dark-brown shooting-jacket, and a big straw hat. His
trousers were stuffed into his boots."

Two or three peasants looked at each other, as if they had at last hit
upon a suspicious fact. The costume which Cocoleu had so accurately
described was well known to them all.

"And when he had kindled the fire," said the magistrate again, "what did
he do next?"

"He hid behind the woodpile."

"And then?"

"He loaded his gun, and, when master came out, he fired."

Count Claudieuse was so indignant that he forgot the pain which his
wounds caused him, and rai