But he had counted upon that of
his nurse,--the poor old woman who loved him, and who, near the close of
her life, would be glad to free her conscience from this heavy load. She
was dead now; and the letters became mere waste paper in his hands.
Then he passed on to his explanation with Madame Gerdy, and he gave the
magistrate even fuller details than he had given his old neighbour.
She had, he said, at first utterly denied the substitution, but he
insinuated that, plied with questions, and overcome by the evidence, she
had, in a moment of despair, confessed all, declaring, soon after,
that she would retract and deny this confession, being resolved at all
hazards that her son should preserve his position.
From this scene, in the advocate's judgment, might be dated the first
attacks of the illness, to which she was now succumbing.
Noel then described his interview with the Viscount de Commarin. A few
inaccuracies occurred in his narrative, but so slight that it would have
been difficult to charge him with them. Besides, there was nothing in
them at all unfavourable to Albert.
He insisted, on the contrary, upon the excellent impression which that
young man had made on him.
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