appeared before him; and added, addressing the
crowded audience, "the prisoner's voice is very
weak; I must therefore demand the most
profound silence."

It would seem that M. de Labaume had
conceived the idea that the "frères" had organised
a conspiracy to defeat the ends of justice in the
defence of one of their number, and that they
might even interrupt the court. His first words
to Léotade pre-supposed the prisoner's guilt.
"Accused," he said, "before the reading of the
detailed act of accusation, we are of opinion
that it will be convenient to question you as to
the remarkable contradictions and prevarications
in vour answers on previous occasions. Weigh
well all your replies. Remember that your life
hangs on the result of this inquiry. Did you
know Cécile Combettes?"

"No. I never saw her, nor knew her."

"Did you ever go to Conte's?"

"Sometimes; on business connected with the
house; but I never saw any apprentice there
at least, as far as I can remember."

"You have already made use of like reservations.
Let us have done with them. No equivocation,
if you please. Have you, or have you
not, seen an apprentice at Conte's? Did you,
or did you not, know Cécile Combettes?"

"I did not know her."

"Is it true that a few days before the murder
you went to Conte's?"

"I do not remember."

"I will remind you of the reason of your
visit. Did you ask for a pocket-book, or an
account-book?"

"I beg your pardon; I remember now."

"Did you not on that day say to Conte, 'Do
not send the book by any one but the girl'?"
(La petite.)

"Having no acquaintance with any such
young girl, I could not have said so."

The president repeated the question, and
again Léotade asserted more vehemently, "I
never saw any young girl working for Conte."

The president then examined Léotade as to
the occupation of every hour of the day of
Cécile's disappearance. Léotade told him all he
could remember (so he said), and on being told
that his present statements differed in some
slight particulars from what he had said before, he
complained with much bitterness of the manner
in which he had been treated before the trial,
and said that the severity of the procureur-
général was the cause of much of his
hesitation.

The president inquired if Léotade had ever
used the words imputed to him in connexion
with the gestures, and he cried indignantly,
"Never did such an expression escape my
lips!"

"I prefer," said the president, "to hear you
lie, than to give me evasive answers."

On the question who were in the lobby on
the arrival of Conte and his companions, the
president asked,  Were you in the vestibule at
a few minutes after nine, talking to Frère
Jubrien?"

"I was not. On that morning I never left
the Pensionnat." And on the president repeating
some of the evidence of Conte, and asking
if the prisoner persisted in denying his having
been in the "Noviciat" on the morning in
question, Léotade cried with warmth, "I declare
solemnly—I shall declare to the day of my
death—that Conte has lied!"

The only new fact alleged was, that Léotade
had first heard of the murder from some boys
who were talking of it, and who had seen the
corpse. Léotade lowered his voice as he alluded
to the murder, and when it appeared that he was
about to particularise what he had heard, stopped
without finishing his sentence. It was not
altogether impossible that a young monk should
be modest. The president thought otherwise.
Even in France, the severity with which an
accused is treated is relaxed so far, that he is
usually permitted to confer with his counsel at
all times during the trial. M. Gasc made some
suggestions to Léotade during his examination,
but the president, speaking as though he
considered himself slighted by any such remarks,
forbade all interference between himself and the
accused.

The first witnesses examined were Raspaud
the gravedigger, and Lévêque the cemetery-
porter. They detailed the facts already set
forth, connected with the discovery of the
corpse. One Monsieur Lamarle, an authority
of the police, corroborated the statement that
crowds had trampled the soil in and near the
spot where the body lay, and complained that
his investigations had been made much more
difficult thereby. M. Estévenet, a physician,
explained the result of the post-mortem
examination, and gave it as his opinion that the
wounds on the head of Cécile, were too severe
to have been inflicted by the blow of the hand,
or even by a stick. He thought it more probable
that they had been caused by a hammer, by
violent concussion with a wall or stone, or by a
fall from a considerable height.

A multitude of witnesses followed on several
successive days, but their depositions related
either to what has been already related, or to
circumstances that had no real bearing on the
points at issue. It was not until the 15th that
Conte appeared in the witness-box. "I swear
to tell nothing but the truth!" he cried, as he
took his place. The judge rebuked him, and
bade him keep to the words of the oath. Before
he began his evidence, he produced a plan
he had had made, of the lobby of the
monastery, and on which he had indicated the
places averred to have been occupied by Léotade
and Jubrieu. He was ordered to pocket his
plan, and proceed. He told his tale. Why,
he was asked, had he made no mention of the
presence of the two "frères" in the vestibule
on the occasion of his first examination? He
replied, "I said nothing about it because no
one asked me. But I declare positively that
there were two "frères" there; and that they
were Jubrieu and Léotade."

After giving some details of the gestures