“No.”

“Did you see it commence?”

“Yes.”

“How did it commence?”

The idiot looked fixedly at the Countess Claudieuse with the timid and abject expression of a dog who tries to read something in his master’s eyes.

“Tell us, my friend,” said the Countess gently,—“tell us.”

A flash of intelligence shone in Cocoleu’s eyes.

“They—they set it on fire,” he stammered.

“On purpose?”

“Yes.”