At this moment big Comperou burnt into sobs.
"The good Lord is punishing me," he cried, "and I repent! I repent! If I get out of here I swear to atone for the wrong I have done, and if I don't get out you boys will make amends for me. You know Rouquette, who was sentenced for five years for stealing a watch from Mother Vidal?... I was the thief! I took it! Its under my bed now.... Oh...."
"Throw him in the water," cried both Pages and Bergounhoux.
"Do you want to appear, then, before the Lord with a crime on your conscience?" cried the professor; "let him repent!"
"I repent! I repent," wailed Comperou, more feebly than a child, in spite of his great strength.
"To the water! To the water!" cried Pages and Bergounhoux, trying to get at the sinner, who was crouching behind the professor.
"If you want to throw him in the water, you'll throw me with him!"
"No! No!"
Finally, they said they would not push him in the water, but upon one condition; he was to be left in a corner and no one was to speak to him or to pay any attention to him.