Mechinet followed the two gentlemen as they hastened down the street; and the good people of Sauveterre, always on the lookout, were not a little scandalized at seeing their well-known magistrate, M. Galpin, in his home costume,—­he who generally was most scrupulously precise in his dress.

Standing on their door-steps, they said to each other,—­

“Something very important must have happened.  Just look at these gentlemen!”

The fact was, they were walking so fast, that people might well wonder; and they did not say a word all the way.

But, ere they reached the court-house, they were forced to stop; for some four or five hundred people were filling the court, crowding on the steps, and actually pressing against the doors.

Immediately all became silent; hats were raised; the crowd parted; and a passage was opened.

On the porch appeared the priest from Brechy, and two other priests.

Behind them came attendants from the hospital, who bore a bier covered with black cloth; and beneath the cloth the outlines of a human body could be seen.

The women began to cry; and those who had room enough knelt down.

“Poor countess!” murmured one of them.  “Here is her husband dead, and they say one of her daughters is dying at home.”

But M. Daubigeon, the magistrate, and Mechinet were too preoccupied with their own interests to think of stopping for more reliable news.  The way was open:  they went in, and hastened to the clerk’s office, where the gendarmes had taken Trumence, and now were guarding him.

He rose as soon as he recognized the gentlemen, and respectfully took off his cap.  It was really Trumence; but the good-for-nothing vagrant did not present his usual careless appearance.  He looked pale, and was evidently very much excited.

“Well,” said M. Daubigeon, “so you have allowed yourself to be retaken?”

“Beg pardon, judge,” replied the poor fellow, “I was not retaken.  I came of my own accord.”

“Involuntarily, you mean?”

“Quite by my own free will!  Just ask the sergeant.”

The sergeant stepped forward, touched his cap, and reported,—­

“That is the naked truth.  Trumence came himself to our barrack, and said, ’I surrender as a prisoner.  I wish to speak to the commonwealth attorney, and give importance evidence.’”

The vagabond drew himself up proudly,—­

“You see, sir, that I did not lie.  While these gentlemen were galloping all over the country in search of me, I was snugly ensconced in a garret at the Red Lamb, and did not think of coming out from there till I should be entirely forgotten.”

“Yes; but people who lodge at the Red Lamb have to pay, and you had no money.”

Trumence very quietly drew from his pocket a handful of Napoleons, and of five-and-twenty-franc notes, and showed them.

“You see that I had the wherewithal to pay for my room,” he said.  “But I surrendered, because, after all, I am an honest man, and I would rather suffer some trouble myself than see an innocent gentleman go to the galleys.”