"I see nothing complicated in the affair at all; everything strikes me as very simple."
"But," objected M. Lecoq, "I thought—"
"I sincerely regret," continued the judge, "that you were so hastily called, when there was really no serious reason for it. The evidences against the arrested men are very conclusive."
Plantat and Lecoq exchanged a long look, betraying their great surprise.
"What!" exclaimed the former, "have, you discovered any new indications?"
"More than indications, I believe," responded M. Domini. "Old Bertaud, whom I have again questioned, begins to be uneasy. He has quite lost his arrogant manner. I succeeded in making him contradict himself several times, and he finished by confessing that he saw the assassins."
"The assassins!" exclaimed M. Plantat. "Did he say assassins?"
"He saw at least one of them. He persists in declaring that he did not recognize him. That's where we are. But prison walls have salutary terrors. To-morrow after a sleepless night, the fellow will be more explicit, if I mistake not."
"But Guespin," anxiously asked the old man, "have you questioned him?"
"Oh, as for him, everything is clear."