“Certainly,” replied the commonwealth attorney. “But make haste!”
The recommendation was not needed. M. Galpin had already put on his boots. He now slipped his overcoat over his home dress, as he was; and off they went.
Mechinet followed the two gentlemen as they hastened down the street; and the good people of Sauveterre, always on the lookout, were not a little scandalized at seeing their well-known magistrate, M. Galpin, in his home costume,—he who generally was most scrupulously precise in his dress.
Standing on their door-steps, they said to each other,—
“Something very important must have happened. Just look at these gentlemen!”
The fact was, they were walking so fast, that people might well wonder; and they did not say a word all the way.
But, ere they reached the court-house, they were forced to stop; for some four or five hundred people were filling the court, crowding on the steps, and actually pressing against the doors.
Immediately all became silent; hats were raised; the crowd parted; and a passage was opened.
On the porch appeared the priest from Brechy, and two other priests.
Behind them came attendants from the hospital, who bore a bier covered with black cloth; and beneath the cloth the outlines of a human body could be seen.