"
"You are too kind, sir. I have had little or nothing to do in the
matter. The discovery is due to chance alone."
"You are modest, M. Tabaret. Chance assists only the clever, and it is
that which annoys the stupid. But I beg you will be seated and proceed."
Then with the lucidness and precision of which few would have believed
him capable, the old fellow repeated to the magistrate all that he had
learned from Noel. He quoted from memory the extracts from the letters,
almost without changing a word.
"These letters," added he, "I have seen; and I have even taken one, in
order to verify the writing. Here it is."
"Yes," murmured the magistrate--"Yes, M. Tabaret, you have discovered
the criminal. The evidence is palpable, even to the blind. Heaven has
willed this. Crime engenders crime. The great sin of the father has made
the son an assassin."
"I have not given you the names, sir," resumed old Tabaret. "I wished
first to hear your opinion."
"Oh! you can name them," interrupted M. Daburon with a certain degree
of animation, "no matter how high he may have to strike, a French
magistrate has never hesitated."
"I know it, sir, but we are going very high this time.
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