75. The peasant sat dumbfounded. He understood at last. They accused him of having returned the pocketbook by a confederate, an accomplice.
76. He tried to protest. Everyone at the table began to laugh.
77. He could not finish his dinner, and left amidst their mockeries.
78. He returned home, ashamed and indignant, strangled by his anger, by his confusion, and all the more thunderstruck because, with his Norman cunning, he was quite capable of having done the thing of which they had accused him, and even of boasting of it as a good trick.Key. It appeared to him confusedly as impossible to prove his innocence, for his trickery was well known. And he felt struck to the heart with the injustice of the suspicion.
Tone.
79. Again he began to tell of his adventure, every day lengthening his recital, advancing each time new proofs, more energetic protestations, and more solemn oaths which he conjured up in his hours of solitude—his mind was occupied solely by the story of the piece of string.Key. They believed him all the less as his defense became more complicated and his reasoning more fine-spun.
Complication summarized.
80. “Ha, they are liar’s reasons!” they said behind his back.
81. He realized it; he fretted over it; he exhausted himself in futile efforts.
82. He visibly wasted away.