"So that," continued the clerk, "poor Gervaise, bereft of her reason, ended by confessing to her seducer that she loved him."
"Aha!" said Jacques.
"Lucky knave!" murmured the lieutenant criminal, whose little eyes shone.
"Why!" cried Aubry; "why, there isn't a word of truth in the whole of it!"
"You deny the charge?"
"Absolutely."
"Write," said the magistrate, "that the accused declares that he is not guilty of any of the charges brought against him."
"Wait a moment! wait a moment!" cried the student, who reflected that if he denied his guilt, they would not send him to prison.
"So you don't deny it altogether?" queried the judge.
"I confess that there is some little truth, not in the form, but in the substance."