“Alas! nothing, sir.”
“Is it true that your husband left these young girls in your charge when he went out?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Is it true that, on his return, they were no longer to be found?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Is it true that, when he asked you where they were, you told him that you could give him no information on the subject?”
The commissary appeared to wait for Frances’ reply with kind of anxious curiosity.
“Yes, sir,” said she, with the utmost simplicity, “that was the answer I made my husband.”
“What, madame!” said the magistrate, with an air of painful astonishment; “that was your only answer to all the prayers and commands of your husband? What! you refused to give him the least information? It is neither probable nor possible.”
“It is the truth, sir.”