for as many men?"
"For one man, whoever he may be. Give me the chance of proving it."
"Do you know Heinrich Heitz?"
"No."
"He is, like yourself, a woodcutter."
"There are thousands of woodcutters."
"Did you and he not work together as partners?"
"We did not."
"Were you not continually quarrelling, and did he not wish to break the partnership?"
"No."
"In consequence of this, did you not threaten to murder him?"
"No."
"Did you not strike him with a weapon, and cut his forehead open?"
"No."
"How many women have you loved?"
"One."
"Her name?"
"Madeline."
"You never loved another?"
"Never."
"Have you been married?"
"No."
"Have you ever lived with a woman who should have been your wife?"
"Never."
"Did you not continually beat this poor woman until her life became a burden to her, and she was compelled to fly from you to another part of the country?"
"No."
"Do you expect to be believed in the answers you have given?"
"No."
"It is said that you possess great strength."
"It has served me in good stead."
"That you are a man of violent passions."
"I have my feelings. I would never submit to be trampled on."
"You were always kind to Madeline?"
"Always."
"On the night of her murder?"
"Yes."
"Witnesses will prove that you were heard to say, 'I will kill you! I will kill you!' Do you deny saying so?"
"No."
"How does that cruel threat accord with a mild and affectionate nature?"
"I was asking her whether she had another lover, and I said if she had, and encouraged him, that I would kill her."
"The handkerchief found round her neck was yours."
"I gave it to her as a love-gift."
"A terrible love-gift. It was not wound loosely round her neck; it was tight, almost to strangulation."
"She must have made it so in her struggles, or----"
"Or?"
"The man who killed her must have attempted to strangle her with it."
"That is your explanation?"
"Yes."
"Your face is bathed in perspiration; your eyes glare wildly."
"Change places with me, and see how you would feel."
"Such signs, then, are the signs of innocence?"
"What else should they be?"
During this long examination, Gautran's limbs trembled violently, and there passed over his face the most frightful expressions.
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