"There!" cried the judge, triumphantly, leaning forward to scrutinise
narrowly the effect of this hideous confrontation upon the prisoner.
To his bitter disappointment, this carefully prepared theatrical
effect, so frequently practised and so often successful with French
criminals, altogether failed with Gascoigne. The Englishman certainly
had started at the first sight of the corpse, but it was a natural
movement of horror which might have escaped any unconcerned spectator
at being brought into the presence of death in such a hideous form.
After betraying this first and not unnatural sign of emotion,
Gascoigne remained perfectly cool, self-possessed, and unperturbed.
"You see your victim there; now will you confess?" cried the judge,
almost passionately.
"Ledantec's victim, not mine," replied Gascoigne, quietly. Then, as if
in apology to himself, he added, "I could not help speaking, but I
shall say nothing more."
"He is very strong, extraordinarily strong!" cried the judge, his rage
giving place to admiration at the obstinate fortitude of his
prisoner. "In all my experience"--this was to the police and the chief
custodian of the Morgue--"I have never come across a more
cold-blooded, cynical wretch; but he shall not beat me; he shall not
outrage and set the law at defiance; we will bend his spirit yet.
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