As soon as these preliminary examinations were ended, the jury, lawyers, and audience were notified that the trial would be resumed.
At three o'clock the president opened the session by announcing that the case would be continued under a new aspect. He exhibited to Michu three bottles of wine and asked him if he recognized them as bottles from his own cellar, showing him at the same time the identity between the green wax on two empty bottles with the green wax on a full bottle taken from his cellar that morning by the justice of peace in presence of his wife. Michu refused to recognize anything as his own. But these proofs for the prosecution were understood by the jurors, to whom the president explained that the empty bottles were found in the place where the senator was imprisoned.
Each prisoner was questioned as to the cavern or cellar beneath the ruins of the old monastery. It was proved by all witnesses for the prosecution, and also for the defence, that the existence of this hiding-place discovered by Michu was known only to him and his wife, and to Laurence and the four gentlemen. We may judge of the effect in the courtroom when the public prosecutor made known the fact that this cavern, known only to the accused and to their two witnesses, was the place where the senator had been imprisoned.
Marthe was summoned. Her appearance caused much excitement among the spectators and keen anxiety to the prisoners. Monsieur de Grandville rose to protest against the testimony of a wife against her husband.
The public prosecutor replied that Marthe by her own confession was an accomplice in the outrage; that she had neither sworn nor testified, and was to be heard solely in the interests of truth.
"We need only submit her preliminary examination to the jury,"remarked the president, who now ordered the clerk of the court to read the said testimony aloud.
"Do you now confirm your own statement?" said the president, addressing Marthe.
Michu looked at his wife, and Marthe, who saw her fatal error, fainted away and fell to the floor. It may be truly said that a thunderbolt had fallen upon the prisoners and their counsel.
"I never wrote to my wife from prison, and I know none of the persons employed there," said Michu.
Bordin passed to him the fragments of the letter Marthe had received.
Michu gave but one glance at it. "My writing has been imitated," he said.
"Denial is your last resource," said the public prosecutor.
The senator was introduced into the courtroom with all the ceremonies due to his position. His entrance was like a stage scene. Malin (now called Comte de Gondreville, without regard to the feelings of the late owners of the property) was requested by the president to look at the prisoners, and did so with great attention and for a long time. He stated that the clothing of his abductors was exactly like that worn by the four gentlemen; but he declared that the trouble of his mind had been such that he could not be positive that the accused were really the guilty parties.
"More than that," he said, "it is my conviction that these four gentlemen had nothing to do with it. The hands that blindfolded me in the forest were coarse and rough. I should rather suppose," he added, looking at Michu, "that my old enemy took charge of that duty; but Ibeg the gentlemen of the jury not to give too much weight to this remark. My suspicions are very slight, and I feel no certainty whatever--for this reason. The two men who seized me put me on horseback behind the man who blindfolded me, and whose hair was red like Michu's. However singular you may consider the observation I am about to make, it is necessary to make it because it is the ground of an opinion favorable to the accused--who, I hope, will not feel offended by it. Fastened to the man's back I would naturally have been affected by his odor--yet I did not perceive that which is peculiar to Michu. As to the person who brought me provisions on three several occasions, I am certain it was Marthe, the wife of Michu. I recognized her the first time she came by a ring she always wore, which she had forgotten to remove. The Court and jury will please allow for the contradictions which appear in the facts I have stated, which I myself am wholly unable to reconcile."A murmur of approval followed this testimony. Bordin asked permission of the Court to address a few questions to the witness.
"Does the senator think that his abduction was due to other causes than the interests respecting property which the prosecution attributes to the prisoners?""I do," replied the senator, "but I am wholly ignorant of what the real motives were; for during a captivity of twenty days I saw and heard no one.""Do you think," said the public prosecutor, "that your chateau at Gondreville contains information, title-deeds, or other papers of value which would induce a search on the part of the Messieurs de Simeuse?""I do not think so," replied Malin; "I believe those gentlemen to be incapable of attempting to get possession of such papers by violence.
They had only to ask me for them to obtain them.""You burned certain papers in the park, did you not?" said Monsieur de Gondreville, abruptly.
Malin looked at Grevin. After exchanging a rapid glance with the notary, which Bordin intercepted, he replied that he had not burned any papers. The public prosecutor having asked him to describe the ambush to which he had so nearly fallen a victim two years earlier, the senator replied that he had seen Michu watching him from the fork of a tree. This answer, which agreed with Grevin's testimony, produced a great impression.
The four gentlemen remained impassible during the examination of their enemy, who seemed determined to overwhelm them with generosity.
