But with a sigh he continued: "There
is nothing more. I stayed there for awhile, and then crept up the hill
again, and came back to my home and locked myself in."
"What had you done that you should lock yourself in?"
"Ah, monsieur, how can I explain such things? Perhaps I was ashamed that
I had seen things I should not have seen. I do not blush that I wept for
the child, who is--but you saw her, monsieur le juge."
"Yes, yes, the little Zoe, and the little philosopher. Proceed."
"What more is there to tell!"
"A trifle perhaps, as you will think," remarked the Judge ironically, but
as one who, finding a crime, must needs find the criminal too. "I must
ask you to inform the Court who was the too polite friend of Madame."
"Monsieur, pardon me. I forgot. It is essential, of course. You must
know that there is a flume, a great wooden channel--"
"Yes, yes. I comprehend. Once I had a case of a flume. It was fifteen
feet deep and it let in the water of the river to the mill-wheels. A
flume regulates, concentrates, and controls the water power. I
comprehend perfectly. Well?"
"So. This flume for Jean Jacques' mill was also fifteen feet deep or
more.
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