Mme. Camusot looked at her spouse, as who should say, “Was I not right?”

“Then the case will come on,” was Camusot’s comment.

“Could you doubt it?” asked du Coudrai.  “Now they have got the Count, all is over.”

“There is the jury,” said Camusot.  “In this case M. le Prefet is sure to take care that after the challenges from the prosecution and the defence, the jury to a man will be for an acquittal.—­My advice would be to come to a compromise,” he added, turning to du Croisier.

“Compromise!” echoed the President; “why, he is in the hands of justice.”

“Acquitted or convicted, the Comte d’Esgrignon will be dishonored all the same,” put in Sauvager.

“I am bringing an action,"[*] said du Croisier.  “I shall have Dupin senior.  We shall see how the d’Esgrignon family will escape out of his clutches.”

[*] A trial for an offence of this kind in France is an action brought
    by a private person (partie civile) to recover damages, and at the
    same time a criminal prosecution conducted on behalf of the
    Government.—­Tr.

“The d’Esgrignons will defend the case and have counsel from Paris; they will have Berryer,” said Mme. Camusot.  “You will have a Roland for your Oliver.”

Du Croisier, M. Sauvager, and the President du Ronceret looked at Camusot, and one thought troubled their minds.  The lady’s tone, the way in which she flung her proverb in the faces of the eight conspirators against the house of d’Esgrignon, caused them inward perturbation, which they dissembled as provincials can dissemble, by dint of lifelong practice in the shifts of a monastic existence.  Little Mme. Camusot saw their change of countenance and subsequent composure when they scented opposition on the part of the examining magistrate.  When her husband unveiled the thoughts in the back of his own mind, she had tried to plumb the depths of hate in du Croisier’s adherents.  She wanted to find out how du Croisier had gained over this deputy public prosecutor, who had acted so promptly and so directly in opposition to the views of the central power.

“In any case,” continued she, “if celebrated counsel come down from Paris, there is a prospect of a very interesting session in the Court of Assize; but the matter will be snuffed out between the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal.  It is only to be expected that the Government should do all that can be done, below the surface, to save a young man who comes of a great family, and has the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse for a friend.  So I think that we shall have a ‘sensation at Landernau.’”

“How you go on, madame!” the President said sternly.  “Can you suppose that the Court of First Instance will be influenced by considerations which have nothing to do with justice?”

“The event proves the contrary,” she said meaningly, looking full at Sauvager and the President, who glanced coldly at her.