“Have you anything more to say, Vaucheray?”
“Nothing, monsieur le president. Now that my mate is sentenced as well as myself, I am easy.... We are both on the same footing.... The governor must find a way to save the two of us.”
“The governor?”
“Yes, Arsène Lupin.”
There was a laugh among the crowd.
The president asked:
“And you, Gilbert?”
Tears streamed down the poor lad’s cheeks and he stammered a few inarticulate sentences. But, when the judge repeated his question, he succeeded in mastering himself and replied, in a trembling voice:
“I wish to say, monsieur le president, that I am guilty of many things, that’s true.... I have done a lot of harm.... But, all the same, not this. No, I have not committed murder.... I have never committed murder.... And I don’t want to die.... it would be too horrible....”
He swayed from side to side, supported by the warders, and he was heard to cry, like a child calling for help: