“You see, my dear friend, that I have begged our learned brother Battard to come to our assistance. I am old, and I don’t know how to move people. He will make the argument and I shall assist him. We have studied the brief together and seen your son in prison. One difficulty presents itself.”
“What is that?” asked the anxious father.
“Battard can explain it to you better than I.”
This latter gentleman stirred his fine head importantly, but contented himself with a short and simple explanation, sensible enough to know that fine effects were useless outside the court-room.
“Yes, I’ve studied the brief. The material fact of abuse of confidence is shown by the notary’s declaration, and by the report of the commissioner of police. I have found no proofs against your son, but grave presumptions. He was aware of the deposit of the money, he was the last of them all to leave the office, and had got possession of the keys. He might have got the secret of the combination from the memorandum book, in which the head clerk had written it; he had not much in the way of personal resources, and he was bent on eloping with his chief’s wife. With this they have cooked up a regular accusation. Add his departure to a foreign country, his silence, his tardy return. The deposition of the said Philippeaux especially is full of malice. This boy must have been jealous of his more favoured colleague. I suspect him of an unfortunate passion for Mrs. Frasne. A dangerous woman, that. A little thin, but fine eyes. Not my type at all.”
A coarse strain in his make-up prevented him from realising that this reflection was misplaced, that the presence of the father of the accused should have made him more reserved in his remarks. He began again after a pause:
“It’s not enough to protest that he is innocent. The theft being admitted, the jury will look for a culprit. We must point one out to them. The offensive, I have often noticed, is more certain in results than the defensive. It distracts the jury’s mind, and fixes it somewhere else. I have tried it often with success. Now, in this kind of case, the true culprit is plainly designated.”
He spread out a code on the table, and turned over the leaves. His two hearers listened to him without interruption.
“Observe that Mrs. Frasne runs no risk. She is covered by Article 880: Abstractions committed by husbands at the expense of their wives, by wives at the expense of their husbands ... can give rise only to civil actions for damages.”
“We know that,” observed Mr. Hamel.