"Don't worry! I won't say a word!" replied his colleague in the same tone.
"Gentlemen, if you please, this way!" cried the usher from the railing. As they came into the enclosure the President thought of something.
"Let one of them step forward and the other be taken to the waiting-room," he ordered. With another quick warning look at his confrère, M. Perissard walked up to the witness-stand while a gendarme escorted the other out behind the dock.
With one hand resting lightly on the railing in front of the witness-stand and the other nursing his immaculate silk hat, M. Perissard surveyed the judges and jury with an oily, benevolent smile.
"Your name and surname?" demanded the President.
"Perissard—Robert Henri!" replied the witness in his most unctuous tones, accompanying the answer with a half-bow.
"Your age?"
"Fifty-nine years, M. the President!"
"Your profession," continued the judge.
"Confidential missions," was the reply, with another bend.