M. Daburon pitied the speaker sincerely.

“Rest a while, my friend,” he said; “compose yourself.”

“No,” replied the sailor, “I would rather get through with it quickly.  One man, the priest, had the charity to tell me of it.  If ever he should want Lerouge!  Without losing a minute, I went and saw a lawyer, and asked him how an honest sailor who had had the misfortune to marry a hussy ought to act.  He said that nothing could be done.  To go to law was simply to publish abroad one’s own dishonour, while a separation would accomplish nothing.  When once a man has given his name to a woman, he told me, he cannot take it back; it belongs to her for the rest of her days, and she has a right to dispose of it.  She may sully it, cover it with mire, drag it from wine shop to wine shop, and her husband can do nothing.  That being the case, my course was soon taken.  That same day, I sold the fatal meadow, and sent the proceeds of it to Claudine, wishing to keep nothing of the price of shame.  I then had a document drawn up, authorising her to administer our property, but not allowing her either to sell or mortgage it.  Then I wrote her a letter in which I told her that she need never expect to hear of me again, that I was nothing more to her, and that she might look upon herself as a widow.  That same night I went away with my son.”

“And what became of your wife after your departure?”

“I cannot say, sir; I only know that she quitted the neighbourhood a year after I did.”

“You have never lived with her since?”

“Never.”

“But you were at her house three days before the crime was committed.”

“That is true, but it was absolutely necessary.  I had had much trouble to find her, no one knew what had become of her.  Fortunately my notary was able to procure Madame Gerdy’s address; he wrote to her, and that is how I learnt that Claudine was living at La Jonchere.  I was then at Rome.  Captain Gervais, who is a friend of mine, offered to take me to Paris on his boat, and I accepted.  Ah, sir, what a shock I experienced when I entered her house!  My wife did not know me!  By constantly telling everyone that I was dead, she had without a doubt ended by believing it herself.  When I told her my name, she fell back in her chair.  The wretched woman had not changed in the least; she had by her side a glass and a bottle of brandy—­”

“All this doesn’t explain why you went to seek your wife.”

“It was on Jacques’s account, sir, that I went.  The youngster has grown to be a man; and he wants to marry.  For that, his mother’s consent was necessary; and I was taking to Claudine a document which the notary had drawn up, and which she signed.  This is it.”

M. Daburon took the paper, and appeared to read it attentively.  After a moment he asked:  “Have you thought who could have assassinated your wife?”

Lerouge made no reply.

“Do you suspect any one?” persisted the magistrate.