Here M. Magloire interrupted his colleague, saying,—­

“So far, all is very well.  But now there comes a very great improbability.  No one would think of going through the forest of Rochepommier in order to return from Brechy to Boiscoran.  If you knew the country”—­

“I know it; for I have carefully explored it.  And the proof of it is, that, having foreseen the objection, I have found an answer.  While M. de Boiscoran knocked at the door, a little peasant-girl passed by, and told him that she had just met the priest at a place called the Marshalls’ Cross-roads.  As the parsonage stands quite isolated, at the end of the village, such an incident is very probable.  As for the priest, chance led me to learn this:  precisely at the hour at which M. de Boiscoran would have been at Brechy, a priest passed the Marshalls’ Cross-roads; and this priest, whom I have seen, belongs to the next parish.  He also dined at M. Besson’s, and had just been sent for to attend a dying woman.  The little girl, therefore, did not tell a story; she only made a mistake.”

“Excellent!” said M. Magloire.

“Still,” continued M. Folgat, “after this information, what did M. de Boiscoran do?  He went on; and, hoping every moment to meet the priest, he walked as far as the forest of Rochepommier.  Finding, at last, that the peasant-girl had—­purposely or not—­led him astray, he determined to return to Boiscoran through the woods.  But he was in very bad humor at having thus lost an evening which he might have spent with his betrothed; and this made him swear and curse, as the witness Gaudry has testified.”

The famous lawyer of Sauveterre shook his head.

“That is ingenious, I admit; and I confess, in all humility, that I could not have suggested any thing as good.  But—­for there is a but—­your story sins by its very simplicity.  The prosecution will say, ’If that is the truth, why did not M. de Boiscoran say so at once?  And what need was there to consult his counsel?’”

M. Folgat showed in his face that he was making a great effort to meet the objection.  After a while, he replied,—­

“I know but too well that that is the weak spot in our armor,—­a very weak spot, too; for it is quite clear, that, if M. de Boiscoran had given this explanation on the day of his arrest, he would have been released instantly.  But what better can be found?  What else can be found?  However, this is only a rough sketch of my plan, and I have never put it into words yet till now.  With your assistance, M. Magloire, with the aid of Mechinet, to whom I am already indebted for very valuable information, with the aid of all our friends, in fine, I cannot help hoping that I may be able to improve my plan by adding some mysterious secret which may help to explain M. de Boiscoran’s reticence.  I thought, at one time, of calling in politics, and to pretend, that, on account of the peculiar views of which he is suspected, M. de Boiscoran preferred keeping his relations with the priest at Brechy a secret.”