“Mine!” Saniel exclaimed.

“Yours, as well as that of many others.  And it is this, unfortunately for us, which destroys the irrefutability that we must have.  How is it certain that this tall man, with long hair and curled beard, is not Florentin Cormier, since these are his chief characteristics?  And it was at night, at a distance of twelve or fifteen metres, through a window, whose panes were obscured by the dust of papers and the mist, that this sick woman, whose eyes are affected, whose mind is weakened by suffering, was able, in a very short space of time, when she had no interest to imprint upon her memory what she saw, to grasp certain signs, that she recalled yesterday strongly enough to declare that the man who drew the curtains was not Florentin Cormier, against whom so many charges have accumulated from various sides, and who has only this testimony in his favor—­every sensible person could not but find it suspicious!”

“But it is true,” Saniel said, happy to lend himself to this view of the matter, which was his own.

“What makes the truth of a thing, my dear sir, is the way of presenting it; let us change this manner and we falsify it.  To arrive at the conclusion which made you say ‘It is true,’ I am on the side of the idea that to-morrow Madame Dammauville’s story should be known to the law, that the brave lady should be heard before the prosecution, and that time should be allowed to examine this testimony that you suspect.  Now let us look at it from the opposite point.  Madame Dammauville’s story is not known to the law, or, if something transpires, we will arrange that this something is so vague that the prosecution will attach but little importance to it.  And this is possible if we do not base a new defence on this testimony.  We arrive at the judgment, and when the prosecution has listened to its witnesses which have overwhelmed us—­the agent of affairs Savoureux, the tailor Valerius,—­it is Madame Dammauville’s turn.  She simply relates what she saw, and declares that the man who is on the prisoner’s bench is not the same who drew the curtains at a quarter past five.  Do you see the ‘coup de theatre’?  The prosecution had not foreseen it; it had not inquired into the health of the witness; the physician would not be there to quote the defects of sight or reason; very probably it would not think of the dusty windowpanes, or of the distance.  And all the opposing arguments that would be properly arranged if there were time, would be lacking, and we should carry the acquittal with a high hand.”

Arranged thus, things were too favorable for Saniel for him not to receive, with a sentiment of relief, this combination which brought Florentin’s acquittal more surely, it seemed to him, than all that they had arranged for his defence up to this day.  However, an objection occurred to him, which he communicated to Nougarede immediately.

“Would one wish to admit that Madame Dammauville had kept silent on so grave a matter, and waited for an audience to reveal it?”