Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/80

 74 from home, was Agoust. He had made oath that he saw me on Easter Day among the poor people, returning from a religious meeting in the woods. I have already mentioned that he was a pettifogging attorney, and, consequently, he might be expected to be very well qualified for the task he had undertaken, of supporting a falsehood without contradicting himself.

In the end, we generally find truth triumphant, and so it was on this occasion, for I extracted from him at different times, and amidst a host of useless questions, the following replies:—

Firstly. That the time he saw me was in the dusk of the evening.

Secondly. That he was standing at his window when he saw me.

Thirdly. That I was in Mr. Mouillère's meadow.

Fourthly. That the distance was about a musket-shot from where he was standing.

Fifthly. That it was not in my way home from the woods.

You will readily believe, that I only obtained these answers at long intervals, putting many irrelevant questions to him in the mean time, in order to make him lose sight of the inconsistency of his present replies with those already recorded.

The President was out of all patience with me for consuming so much of his valuable time in asking foolish questions.

As Agoust had been brought up a Protestant, and had turned Papist to retain his office as attorney, I endeavored to rouse his conscience to some feeling of remorse. I put together the answers I have given above, and said to him: