"Nothing whatever which could in any way put justice on the track of the criminal."
"But yet can you, or, rather, I should say, ought you not to relate to me all that was said or done? The slightest circumstance might enlighten us."
"Rovère spoke to me of private affairs," Dantin replied, but quickly added: "They were insignificant things."
"What are insignificant things?"
"Remembrances—family matters."
"Family things are not insignificant, above all in a case like this. Had Rovère any family? No relative assisted at the obsequies."
Jacques Dantin seemed troubled, unnerved rather, and this time it was plainly visible. He replied in a short tone, which was almost brusque:
"He talked of the past."
"What past?" asked the Judge, quickly.
"Of his youth—of moral debts."