"
"The prisoner Trudaine has the ear of the court," said the
president, "and may continue his confession. If the female
prisoner wishes to speak, she may be heard afterward. I enjoin
both the accused persons to make short work of it with their
addresses to me, or they will make their case worse instead of
better. I command silence among the audience, and if I am not
obeyed, I will clear the hall. Now, prisoner Trudaine, I invite
you to proceed. No more about your sister; let her speak for
herself. Your business and ours is with the man and woman Dubois.
Are you, or are you not, ready to tell the court who they are?"
"I repeat that I am ready," answered Trudaine. "The citizen
Dubois is a servant. The woman Dubois is the mother of the man
who denounces me--Superintendent Danville."
A low, murmuring, rushing sound of hundreds of exclaiming voices,
all speaking, half-suppressedly, at the same moment, followed the
delivery of the answer. No officer of the court attempted to
control the outburst of astonishment. The infection of it spread
to the persons on the platform, to the crier himself, to the
judges of the tribunal, lounging, but the moment before, so
carelessly silent in their chairs. When the noise was at length
quelled, it was subdued in the most instantaneous manner by one
man, who shouted from the throng behind the president's chair:
"Clear the way there! Superintendent Danville is taken ill!"
A vehement whispering and contending of many voices interrupting
each other, followed; then a swaying among the assembly of
official people; then a great stillness; then the sudden
appearance of Danville, alone, at the table.
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