“Within the family there is no theft. To fix suspicion on Mrs. Frasne at the trial is not denouncing her. But there is something better still. My instinct rarely deceives me. I have seen the Frasnes’ marriage contract. I had a shrewd idea I should discover something there. Through the enterprise of an attorney at Grenoble, I arranged a little investigation, and I discovered there proof that Mrs. Frasne, in taking one hundred thousand francs from her husband’s safe, believed she was only taking what belonged to her.”
“I don’t understand,” said Mr. Roquevillard, interrupting.
“You’ll see what I mean. It’s so clear it blinds you. Her husband, in this marriage contract, agreed to a settlement of one hundred thousand francs.”
“In case of her survival?”
“No, immediate. But naturally it was revocable in case of divorce, and the husband retained control of it. The arrangement was for a separate maintenance account. Nevertheless, Mrs. Frasne, ignorant of the law, might have supposed that this money was actually hers, and that in leaving her husband’s household she had the right to take it away with her. It was an absurd way of looking at it, but for that very reason just the way a woman would have worked it out: in this way I explain to myself why the thief took particular pains to appropriate only one hundred thousand francs out of an envelope enclosing a deposit of one hundred and twenty thousand. That was not theft, it was reimbursement. Mrs. Frasne believed she was availing herself of her just rights.”
“Yes,” concluded Mr. Roquevillard, interested in so solid an argument, “the contract explains all.”
“And it is acquittal, certain and incontestable,” declared Mr. Battard, growing animated, and beginning to wave his long arms. “What jury would hold out against such a demonstration? I’ve very rarely held so many trump cards in my hand.”
“You don’t always defend the innocent,” insinuated the president.
“Innocent or guilty, it’s the proof which counts. Here we have it.”
The father of the accused, who wanted a complete rehabilitation, next took up the subject.