"Oh! as you have confessed to the decoction," said the judge, "you may as well admit the results."
"True," said Jacques, "as I've confessed to the decoction, I admit the rest, Master Clerk. But, upon my word," he added in an undertone, "Gervaise was quite right in saying—"
"But that's not all," the clerk interrupted him.
"What! that's not all!"
"The crime of which the accused was guilty had terrible results. The unhappy Gervaise discovered that she was about to become a mother."
"Ah! that is too much!" cried Jacques.
"Do you deny the paternity?" asked the judge.
"Not only do I deny the paternity, but I deny the condition."
"Write," said the judge, "that the accused denies the paternity, and also denies the condition; an inquiry will be ordered on that point."
"One moment, one moment!" cried Aubry, realizing that if Gervaise were convicted of falsehood on a single point the whole structure would fall to the ground: "did Gervaise really say what the clerk has read?"