“Upon my word!  I confess you nearly caught me.  I was on the point of getting angry.  I almost feared”—­

“And there was good reason for fear,” said M. Galpin; “for a terrible charge has been brought against you.  And it may be, that on your answer to my question, ridiculous as it seems to you, your honor may depend, and perhaps your liberty.”

This time there was no mistake possible.  M. de Boiscoran felt that kind of terror which the law inspires even in the best of men, when they find themselves suddenly accused of a crime.  He turned pale, and then he said in a troubled voice,—­

“What!  A charge has been brought against me, and you, M. Galpin, come to my house to examine me?”

“I am a magistrate, sir.”

“But you were also my friend.  If anyone should have dared in my presence to accuse you of a crime, of a mean act, of something infamous, I should have defended you, sir, with all my energy, without hesitation, and without a doubt.  I should have defended you till absolute, undeniable evidence should have been brought forward of your culpability; and even then I should have pitied you, remembering that I had esteemed you so highly as to favor your alliance with my family.  But you—­I am accused, I do not know of what, falsely, wrongly; and at once you hasten hither, you believe the charge, and consent to become my judge.  Well, let it be so!  I washed my hands last night after coming home.”

M. Galpin had not boasted too much in praising his self-possession and his perfect control over himself.  He did not move when the terrible words fell upon his ear; and he asked again in the same calm tone,—­

“What has become of the water you used for that purpose?”

“It is probably still there, in my dressing-room.”

The magistrate at once went in.  On the marble table stood a basin full of water.  That water was black and dirty.  At the bottom lay particles of charcoal.  On the top, mixed with the soapsuds, were swimming some extremely slight but unmistakable fragments of charred paper.  With infinite care the magistrate carried the basin to the table at which Mechinet had taken a sea; and, pointing at it, he asked M. de Boiscoran,—­

“Is that the water in which you washed your hands last night after coming home?”

“Yes,” replied the other with an air of careless indifference.

“You had been handling charcoal, or some inflammable material.”

“Don’t you see?”

Standing face to face, the commonwealth attorney and clerk exchanged rapid glances.  They had had the same feeling at that moment.  If M. de Boiscoran was innocent, he was certainly a marvellously cool and energetic man, or he was carrying out a long-premeditated plan of action; for every one of his answers seemed to tighten the net in which he was taken.  The magistrate himself seemed to be struck by this; but it was only for a moment, and then, turning to the clerk, he said,—­