“Do you now confirm your own statement?” said the president, addressing Marthe.

Michu looked at his wife, and Marthe, who saw her fatal error, fainted away and fell to the floor.  It may be truly said that a thunderbolt had fallen upon the prisoners and their counsel.

“I never wrote to my wife from prison, and I know none of the persons employed there,” said Michu.

Bordin passed to him the fragments of the letter Marthe had received.  Michu gave but one glance at it.  “My writing has been imitated,” he said.

“Denial is your last resource,” said the public prosecutor.

The senator was introduced into the courtroom with all the ceremonies due to his position.  His entrance was like a stage scene.  Malin (now called Comte de Gondreville, without regard to the feelings of the late owners of the property) was requested by the president to look at the prisoners, and did so with great attention and for a long time.  He stated that the clothing of his abductors was exactly like that worn by the four gentlemen; but he declared that the trouble of his mind had been such that he could not be positive that the accused were really the guilty parties.

“More than that,” he said, “it is my conviction that these four gentlemen had nothing to do with it.  The hands that blindfolded me in the forest were coarse and rough.  I should rather suppose,” he added, looking at Michu, “that my old enemy took charge of that duty; but I beg the gentlemen of the jury not to give too much weight to this remark.  My suspicions are very slight, and I feel no certainty whatever—­for this reason.  The two men who seized me put me on horseback behind the man who blindfolded me, and whose hair was red like Michu’s.  However singular you may consider the observation I am about to make, it is necessary to make it because it is the ground of an opinion favorable to the accused—­who, I hope, will not feel offended by it.  Fastened to the man’s back I would naturally have been affected by his odor—­yet I did not perceive that which is peculiar to Michu.  As to the person who brought me provisions on three several occasions, I am certain it was Marthe, the wife of Michu.  I recognized her the first time she came by a ring she always wore, which she had forgotten to remove.  The Court and jury will please allow for the contradictions which appear in the facts I have stated, which I myself am wholly unable to reconcile.”

A murmur of approval followed this testimony.  Bordin asked permission of the Court to address a few questions to the witness.

“Does the senator think that his abduction was due to other causes than the interests respecting property which the prosecution attributes to the prisoners?”

“I do,” replied the senator, “but I am wholly ignorant of what the real motives were; for during a captivity of twenty days I saw and heard no one.”

“Do you think,” said the public prosecutor, “that your chateau at Gondreville contains information, title-deeds, or other papers of value which would induce a search on the part of the Messieurs de Simeuse?”