of Uhlans who pursued me bite the dust!..."

He could not succeed in concealing his satisfaction and drew himself to
his full height, like a man who sees nothing astonishing in an exploit
of that kind.

Philippe asked.

"And what is the general feeling?"

"Just what the papers say. Jorance's release is imminent. I told you as
much. The more we assert ourselves, as we have every right to do, the
sooner the thing will be over. You must understand that friend Jorance
is being examined at this moment and that he is giving exactly the same
replies that I did. So you see!... No, once more, Germany will give way.
It is only a question of a day or two. So don't upset yourself, my boy,
since you're so afraid of war ... and the responsibilities attaching to
it!..."

This, when all was said and done, was the motive to which he, like
Marthe, ascribed the incoherent words which Philippe had uttered
previous to his appearance before the magistrates; and, without going
deeper into the matter, it gave him, on his side, a certain sense of
anger, mingled with a mild contempt. Philippe Morestal, old Morestal's
son, afraid of war! He was one more corrupted by the Paris poison!...

Lunch was very lively. The old man never ceased talking. His
good-humour, his optimism, his steady belief in a favourable and
immediate solution overcame every resistance; and Philippe himself was
glad to share a conviction that delighted him.

*
* *

The afternoon was continued under equally propitious auspices. Morestal
and Philippe were sent for to the frontier, where, in the presence of
the public prosecutor, the sub-prefect, the sergeant of gendarmes and a
number of journalists whom they tried in vain to send away, the
examining-magistrate carefully completed the investigations which he had
begun the day before. Morestal had to repeat the story of the aggression
on the spot where it occurred, to point definitely to the road followed
before the attack and during the flight, to fix the place where Private
Baufeld had crossed the frontier-line and the place where the commissary
and himself were arrested.

He did so without hesitation, walking to and fro, talking and making his
statements so positively, so logically and so sincerely that the scene,
as pictured by him, lived again before the spectators' eyes. His
demonstration was lucid and commanding. Here, the first shot was fired.