Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 41: what you’re looking at

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28 JOSEPH WILMOT; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. and what must the unhappy nobleman’s own thoughts now be at thus finding himself suddenly separated by death from that wife with whom he had last parted under such sad circumstances ! I was in the midst of all these mournful ideas, when a footman came hurriedly to my chamber, and stated that I must go down stairs at once to give my evidence before the commissary of police. I had just finished my toilet—and was naturally prepared, under the circumstances, for a summons of this sort. On descending, I found that the examination was taking place in the great dining- room. There, at the kead of the table, sat the commissary of police, with writing materials before him. The Duke de Paulin, still in his dressing- gown, and looking ghastly pale, was seated near the commissary. Two gendarmes stood just within the door. Those were all the persons whom I found in the apartment. The moment I entered, the commissary said to my noble master, “It will be necessary, Monsieur le Duc, for you to withdraw.” The nobleman gazed for a moment with visible astonishment upon the commissary—and then said, “ Methinks, sir, that I have a. deep interest —sad and terrible as it is—in the progress of this inquiry.” “Tt is true, Monsieur le Duc,’ answered the commissary: “nevertheless, painful as it may be for me to repeat my request that you will with- draw, it is absolutely necessary.” The Duke offered no further remonstrance—but slowly quitted the room, with looks bent down: and I sincerely pitied him—for his feelings were evidently harrowed to a frightful extent. As the door closed behind him, the commissary of police beckoned one of the gendarmes to draw near; and he whispered a few words to the officer,—who thereupon left the apartment. The commissary of police asked me if I could speak French sufficiently well to comprehend him ; and by my answer I showed that I had made such progress since being examined through the medium of an interpreter in the Chamber of Peers, that I was quite adequate to the task. ‘Did the Duke de Paulin make any particular communication to you yesterday evening?” asked the magistrate. “Yes, sir; he bade me prepare to accompany him on a journey this morning.” “State any other particulars in respect to that conversation.” I then recited word for word, as nearly as I could recollect, the discourse which the Duke had held towards me—and how he had spoken with frank confidence of the views and hopes he had entertained with regard to the results that a severance from home would bring about. The commissary then questioned me as to my having seen a form glide past me in the obscurity of the passage: but I was totally unable to say that it was the form of Adolphe whom I had thus seen. The commissary now bade me sit down,— observing that for the purposes of justice each successive wit- ness must be kept under his own eye until the close of the investigation. The next witness introduced was the Duke’s principal valet ; and he deposed to this effect :— “When I attended upon Monsieur le Duc last evening at about ten o’clock, he ordered me to ————e eer ae | scarcely keep back my tears as I did so. pack up his trunks for a journey which he in- tended to undertake this morning. He likewise charged me to give instructions the last thing, to have the travelling-carriage ready at nine this morning—but to take care that his contem- plated departure should be kept as secret as pos- sible,—inasmuch as he dreaded another dispute with the Duchess ere he could get away from the house.” ' The commissary of police now questioned the valet as to the circumstances under which the tragedy. was first discovered; and he. likewise examined me upon that point. In the course of the explanations which I gave, the recollection flashed to my mind of that volume of smoke which I had seen ascending from a chimney belonging to the Duke’s bed-room and the other apart- ments immediately above it. I had altogether forgotten this incident until now; and I mentioned it. The commissary beckoned the remaining gen- darme towards him, and gave that functionary certain whispered instructions,—on receiving which he issued from the dining-room, and his place at the door was almost immediately taken by another police-oflicer. Amelie was the next witness introduced; and she corroborated my statement and that of the valet in respect to the circumstances attending the discovery of the murder. She was followed by the groom, footman, and coachman, to whom the valet had issued the orders relative to the Duke’s contemplated departure. Searcely had they given their testimony, when the gendarme who had been last sent out, returned to the room, and whispered for a few minutes with the commissary of police. He likewise pro- duced a sealed letter, which the magistrate opened and read. “You said, I think,” remarked the commissary, turning towards me when he had finished the perusal of the letter, “that the Duke de Paulin spoke to you yesterday evening of a written com- munication he intended to make to the Duchess ?” “ He did, sir,’ I responded; “and Monsieur le Duc informed me that he should entrust the letter in the morning to my hand, to be by me confided to one of the Duchess’s maids, so that it might reach the Duchess immediately after our depar- ture.” “Tell me,” said the commissary, “is this letter worded in the spirit in which Monsieur le Duc so frankly and confidingly spoke to you last evening ?” I took the letter and read it; and I could It was penned in the most affectionate and contrite strain. Therein the Duke admitted that he had been culpable of proceedings on which the worst con- struction might be put: but he pledged his honour as a man and his soul as a Christian that there had never been anything actually criminal between himself and Mademoiselle Ligny—but that their friendship was Platonic, and that he had been all the more led to befriend her in a pecuniary sense because he regarded her as the victim of un- founded jealousy on the part of the Duchess. He went on to describe that she had lost her situation as governess in the family through this jealousy— that she had suffered seriously in health on ac- count of the chagrin she experienced at the unjust ——— « —— oor ~ Comnniclooolks,. (eo) im