"Stop!"
The imprints left by the Bertauds on both sides of the ditch had just caught his eye.
"What is this?" said he; "evidently someone has crossed here, and not long ago; for the traces of the steps are quite fresh."After an examination of some minutes he ordered that the ladder should be placed farther off.When they had reached the boat, he said to Jean, "Is this the boat with which you went to take up your nets this morning?"Yes."
"Then," resumed M.Courtois, "what implements did you use? your cast net is perfectly dry; this boat-hook and these oars have not been wet for twenty-four hours."The distress of the father and son became more and more evident.
"Do you persist in what you say, Bertaud?" said the mayor.
Certainly."
"And you, Philippe?"
"Monsieur," stammered the young man, "we have told the truth.""Really!" said M.Courtois, in an ironical tone."Then you will explain to the proper authorities how it was that you could see anything from a boat which you had not entered.It will be proved to you, also, that the body is in a position where it is impossible to see it from the middle of the river.Then you will still have to tell what these foot-prints on the grass are, which go from your boat to the place where the ditch has been crossed several times and by several persons."The two Bertauds hung their heads.
"Brigadier," ordered the mayor, "arrest these two men in the name of the law, and prevent all communication between them."Philippe seemed to be ill.As for old Jean, he contented himself with shrugging his shoulders and saying to his son:
"Well, you would have it so, wouldn't you?"While the brigadier led the two poachers away, and shut them up separately, and under the guard of his men, the justice and the mayor returned to the park.With all this," muttered M.Courtois, "no traces of the count."They proceeded to take up the body of the countess.The mayor sent for two planks, which, with a thousand precautions, they placed on the ground, being able thus to move the countess without effacing the imprints necessary for the legal examination.Alas! it was indeed she who had been the beautiful, the charming Countess de Tremorel! Here were her smiling face, her lovely, speaking eyes, her fine, sensitive mouth.
There remained nothing of her former self.The face was unrecognizable, so soiled and wounded was it.Her clothes were in tatters.Surely a furious frenzy had moved the monsters who had slain the poor lady! She had received more than twenty knife-wounds, and must have been struck with a stick, or rather with a hammer; she had been dragged by her feet and by her hair!
In her left hand she grasped a strip of common cloth, torn, doubtless, from the clothes of one of the assassins.The mayor, in viewing the spectacle, felt his legs fail him, and supported himself on the arm of the impassible Plantat.
"Let us carry her to the house," said the justice, "and then we will search for the count."The valet and brigadier (who had now returned) called on the domestics for assistance.The women rushed into the garden.
There was then a terrible concert of cries, lamentations, and imprecations.
"The wretches! So noble a mistress! So good a lady!"M.and Mme.de Tremorel, one could see, were adored by their people.
The countess had just been laid upon the billiard-table, on the ground-floor, when the judge of instruction and a physician were announced.
"At last!" sighed the worthy mayor; and in a lower tone he added, "the finest medals have their reverse."For the first time in his life, he seriously cursed his ambition, and regretted being the most important personage in Orcival.
