“We cannot talk here in the middle of the court, where everybody can watch us from the windows.  The court-room is quite near:  suppose we go there, doctor.”

For all answer the surgeon put on his cap firmly, took his friend’s arm, and the next moment the soldier on duty at the gate of the hospital saw them go out, engaged in a most animated conversation.  When they had reached the magistrate’s room, he shut the door carefully; and, after having invited the surgeon to take a seat, he said:—­

“I shall ask you for your information in a moment.  First listen to what I have to say.  I know now who Evariste Crochard, surnamed Bagnolet, really is; and I know the principal events of his life.  Ah! it has cost me time and labor enough; but human justice is patient, doctor.  Considering that this man had sailed on board ‘The Conquest’ for more than four months, in company with one hundred and fifty emigrants, I thought it would be unlikely that he should not have tried to break the monotony of such a voyage by long talks with friends.  He is a good speaker, a Parisian, a former soldier, and a great traveller.  He was, no doubt, always sure of an audience.  I sent, therefore, one by one, for all the former passengers on board ‘The Conquest,’ whom I could find, a hundred, perhaps; and I examined them.  I soon found out that my presumption was not unfounded.

“Almost every one of them had found out some detail of Bagnolet’s life, some more, some less, according to the degree of honesty or demoralization which Bagnolet thought he discovered in them.  I collected all the depositions of these witnesses; I completed and compared them, one by the other; and thus, by means of the confessions of the accused, certain allusions and confidences of his made to others, and his indiscretions when he was drunk, I was enabled to make up his biography with a precision which is not likely to be doubted.”

Without seeming to notice the doctor’s astonishment, he opened a large case on his table; and, drawing from it a huge bundle of papers, he held it up in the air, saying,—­

“Here are the verbal depositions of my hundred and odd witnesses.”

Then, pointing at four or five sheets of paper, which were covered with very fine and close writing, he added,—­

“And here are my extracts.  Now, doctor, listen,—­”

And at once he commenced reading this biography of his “accused,” making occasional remarks, and explaining what he had written.

“Evariste Crochard, surnamed Bagnolet, was born at Bagnolet in 1829, and is, consequently, older than he says, although he looks younger.  He was born in February; and this month is determined by the deposition of a witness, to whom the accused offered, during the voyage, a bottle, with the words, ‘To-day is my birthday.’

“From all the accounts of the accused, it appears that his parents were evidently very honest people.  His father was foreman in a copper foundry; and his mother a seamstress.  They may be still living; but for many years they have not seen their son.