r!"

Philippe saw that he had gone too far; and he objected:

"My evidence is not evidence in the proper sense of the word.... As for
the soldier, I could hardly make out ..."

"We've got them, I tell you. The little that you were able to see, the
little that you were able to hear all agrees with my own evidence, that
is to say, with the truth. We've got them! And here come the gentlemen
from the public prosecutor's office, who will be of my opinion, I bet
you what you like! And it won't take long either! Jorance will be free
to-morrow."

He dropped the pen, which he had taken up in order to write his report
himself, and went quickly to the window, attracted by the sound of a
motor-car sweeping round the garden-lawn:

"The sub-prefect," he said. "By Jove, so the government know about it!
The examining-magistrate and the prosecutor.... Ha, ha, they are not
wasting any time, I see!... Quick, mother, have them shown in here....
I'll be back in a minute: I must just put on a collar and change my
jacket...."

"Father!"

Morestal stopped in the doorway:

"What is it, my boy?" he asked.

"I have something to say to you," said Philippe, resolutely.

"All right. But it'll keep until presently, won't it?"

"I have something to say to you now."

"Oh! In that case, come along with me. Yes, you can give me a hand,
instead of Victor, who is out."

And, laughing, he went to his room.

Marthe involuntarily took a few steps, as though she proposed to be
present at the conversation. Philippe experienced a momentary
embarrassment. Then he quickly made up his mind:

"No, Marthe, you had better stay."

"But ..."

"No, once more, no. Excuse me. I will explain later...."

And he followed his father.

*
* *

As soon as they were alone, Morestal, who was thinking much more about
his evidence than about Philippe's words, asked, casually:

"Is it private?"

"Yes ... and very serious," Philippe declared.

"Nonsense!"

"Very serious, as you will see in a moment, father.... It's about a
position in which I find myself placed, a horrible position which I
don't know how to get out of, unless ..."

He went no further. Acting under an instinctive impulse, thrown off his
balance by the arrival of the examining-magistrate and by a sudden
vision of the events to come, he had appealed to his father. He wanted
to speak, to say the words that would deliver