Part 18 (1/2)
”Yes.”
He pointed to Jean Louis:
”Whose son is this gentleman? Madame d'Imbleval's?”
”No.”
”Madame Vaurois', therefore?”
”No.”
A stupefied silence welcomed the two replies.
”Explain yourself,” Renine commanded, looking at his watch.
Then Madame Boussignol fell on her knees and said, in so low and dull a voice that they had to bend over her in order to catch the sense of what she was mumbling:
”Some one came in the evening ... a gentleman with a new-born baby wrapped in blankets, which he wanted the doctor to look after. As the doctor wasn't there, he waited all night and it was he who did it all.”
”Did what?” asked Renine. ”What did he do? What happened?”
”Well, what happened was that it was not one child but the two of them that died: Madame d'Imbleval's and Madame Vaurois' too, both in convulsions.
Then the gentleman, seeing this, said, 'This shows me where my duty lies. I must seize this opportunity of making sure that my own boy shall be happy and well cared for. Put him in the place of one of the dead children.' He offered me a big sum of money, saying that this one payment would save him the expense of providing for his child every month; and I accepted. Only, I did not know in whose place to put him and whether to say that the boy was Louis d'Imbleval or Jean Vaurois. The gentleman thought a moment and said neither. Then he explained to me what I was to do and what I was to say after he had gone. And, while I was dressing his boy in vest and binders the same as one of the dead children, he wrapped the other in the blankets he had brought with him and went out into the night.”
Mlle. Boussignol bent her head and wept. After a moment, Renine said:
”Your deposition agrees with the result of my investigations.”
”Can I go?”
”Yes.”
”And is it over, as far as I'm concerned? They won't be talking about this all over the district?”
”No. Oh, just one more question: do you know the man's name?”
”No. He didn't tell me his name.”
”Have you ever seen him since?”
”Never.”
”Have you anything more to say?”
”No.”
”Are you prepared to sign the written text of your confession?”
”Yes.”