we left the province for some time, so as not to witness the execution of Antony, who was condemned to be broken on the wheel.  The two false witnesses who had accused me were flogged, branded, and expelled from the jurisdiction of the court.  Mademoiselle Leblanc, who could not exactly be accused of giving false evidence, since hers had consisted of mere inferences from facts, avoided the public displeasure by going to another province.  Here she lived in sufficient luxury to make us suspect that she had been paid considerable sums to bring about my ruin.

Edmee and I would not consent to be separated, even temporarily, from our good friends, my sole defenders, Marcasse, Patience, Arthur, and the Abbe Aubert.  We all travelled in the same carriage; the first two, being accustomed to the open air, were only too glad to sit outside; but we treated them on a footing of perfect equality.  From that day forth they never sat at any table but our own.  Some persons had the bad taste to express astonishment at this; we let them talk.  There are circumstances that obliterate all distinctions, real or imaginary, of rank and education.

We paid a visit to Switzerland.  Arthur considered this was essential to the complete restoration of Edmee’s health.  The delicate, thoughtful attentions of this devoted friend, and the loving efforts we made to minister to her happiness, combined into the beautiful spectacle of the mountains to drive away her melancholy and efface the recollection of the troublous times through which we had just passed.  On Patience’s poetic nature Switzerland had quite a magic effect.  He would frequently fall into such a state of ecstasy that we were entranced and terrified at the same time.  He felt strongly tempted to build himself a chalet in the heart of some valley and spend the rest of his life there in contemplation of Nature; but his affection for us made him abandon this project.  As for Marcasse, he declared subsequently that, despite all the pleasure he had derived from our society, he looked upon this visit as the most unlucky event of his life.  At the inn at Martigny, on our return journey, Blaireau, whose digestion had been impaired by age, fell a victim to the excess of hospitality shown him in the kitchen.  The sergeant said not a word, but gazed on him awhile with heavy eye, and then went and buried him under the most beautiful rose-tree in the garden; nor did he speak of his loss until more than a year later.

During our journey Edmee was for me a veritable angel of kindness and tender thought; abandoning herself henceforth to all the inspirations of her heart, and no longer feeling any distrust of me, or perhaps thinking that I deserved some compensation for all my sufferings, she repeatedly confirmed the celestial assurances of love which she had given in public, when she lifted up her voice to proclaim my innocence.  A few reservations that had struck me in her evidence, and a recollection of the damning words that had fallen from her lips when Patience found her shot, continued, I must confess, to cause me pain for some time longer.  I thought, rightly perhaps, that Edmee had made a great effort to believe in my innocence before Patience had given his evidence.  But on this point she always spoke most unwillingly and with a certain amount of reserve.  However, one day she quite healed my wound by saying with her charming abruptness: