"Who will prove the violation?"
"Who? Why, I, of course!... And Jorancé!... Do you think they'll doubt the word of honest men like us? Besides, there are other proofs. They will find the traces of the pursuit, the traces of the attack, the traces of the stand which we made. And who can tell? There may have been witnesses...."
Marthe turned her eyes on Philippe. He was listening to his father, with a face so pale that she was astounded. She waited for a few seconds and then, seeing that he did not speak, she said:
"There was a witness."
Morestal started:
"What's that, Marthe?"
"Philippe was there."
"Nonsense! We left Philippe at the Carrefour du Grand-Chêne, at the bottom of the hill, didn't we, Suzanne? You remained behind together."
Philippe intervened, quickly:
"Suzanne went off at once! and so did I ... but I had not gone two hundred yards when I turned back."