“Her reply was written verbatim and I was questioned in my turn. Here is my answer: ‘I have no reproach to make against madame, not even for her little bad humor which dominates her at this moment; but many regrets to offer for the necessity of a criminal process in order to present to her my homage. As to the atrocity of my soul I hope to prove to her by the moderation of my replies and by my respectful conduct that her counsel has evilly informed her in my regard.’ “And it was written down. This is the general tone that prevailed during the eight hours that we passed together the twice that we met.” After several pages of this interrogation, Beaumarchais gives us, “The Confrontation of Madame Goëzman With Me.” From which we give the following extracts: “I took the liberty of saying, ‘To-day, Madame, it is I who hold the attack, we shall first take up your interrogations.’ “I took the papers to run them over. “‘What? This Monsieur here, has he the liberty to read all that I have been made to write?’ “‘It is a right, Madame, which I shall use with all possible deference. In your first interrogation, for instance, to the sixteen consecutive questions upon the same subject, that is, to know whether you received one hundred louis from Le-Jay to procure an audience for le sieur Beaumarchais I see to the great honor of your discretion that the sixteen replies are not charged with any superfluous ornaments. “‘Questioned as to whether you have received one hundred louis in two rolls?’ “You reply, ‘That is false.’ “‘If you put them in a case ornamented with flowers?’ “‘That is not true.’ “‘If you kept them until the day after the suit?’ “‘Atrocious lie.’ “‘If you did not promise an audience to Le-Jay for the same evening?’ “‘Abominable calumny.’ “‘If you had not said to Le-Jay, money is not necessary, your word is sufficient?’ “‘Diabolical invention,’ etc., etc. Sixteen negations following one another in relation to the same subject. “And yet you admit freely at the second interrogation that ‘It is true that Le-Jay presented one hundred louis, that I put them away in an _armoire_ and kept them a day and a night, but simply to accommodate that poor Le-Jay, because he was a good man and did not realize the consequences, and because the money might make him tired in carrying it about.’ (What goodness, the sums were in gold!) “‘As these replies are absolutely contrary to the first, I beg you madame to be so good as to tell us which of the two interrogations you decide to hold to in this important matter?’ “‘Neither to the one nor to the other, Monsieur, all that I said there means nothing, and I shall only hold to my verification which is the only thing that is true.’ All this was written down.