You
have been lying so as to find out the truth. I have been such a
fool as to answer you, and you are going to turn it all against me."
"What? Are you going to talk nonsense again?"
"No, but I see just how it is, and you won't catch me again! Now
I'd rather die than say a word."
The detective tried to reassure him; but he added:
"Besides, I'm as sly as you; I've told you nothing but lies."
This sudden whim surprised no one. Some prisoners intrench
themselves behind a system of defence, and nothing can divert them
from it; others vary with each new question, denying what they have
just affirmed, and constantly inventing some new absurdity which
anon they reject again. M. Lecoq tried in vain to draw Guespin
from his silence; M. Domini made the same attempt, and also failed;
to all questions he only answered, "I don't know."
At last the detective waxed impatient.
"See here," said he to Guespin, "I took you for a young man of
sense, and you are only an ass. Do you imagine that we don't know
anything? Listen: On the night of Madame Denis's wedding, you
were getting ready to go off with your comrades, and had just
borrowed twenty francs from the valet, when the count called you.
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