Chapter Twenty-Five An Unexpected Dénouement
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WE WERE PRESENT THE following morning at the examination of Jack Renauld. Short as the time had been, I was shocked at the change that had taken place in the young prisoner. His cheeks had fallen in, there were deep black circles round his eyes, and he looked haggard and distraught, as one who had wooed sleep in vain for several nights. He betrayed no emotion at seeing us.
“Renauld,” began the magistrate, “do you deny that you were in Merlinville on the night of the crime?”
Jack did not reply at once, then he said with a hesitancy of manner which was piteous: “I... I... told you that I was in Cherbourg.”
The magistrate turned sharply. “Send in the station witnesses.”
In a moment or two the door opened to admit a man whom I recogni
