In telling his story, invented for the occasion, the “Gasman” had actually spoken in the very tones of one convinced of the truth of what he was relating. The fellow had made no mistakes, he had narrated the adventure exactly in the way agreed upon, and above all, Père Moche admired the apache’s final act, one that had not been arranged beforehand, the act of giving back to Ascott the accursed gold wherewith he had, as he thought, bought the complicity of the two wretches, an act calculated to remove all doubt from the Commissary’s mind, if by any chance he should have been dubious of the witnesses’ good faith. “By Gad! though,” Moche muttered to himself by way of conclusion. “Ascott makes eighty francs by the transaction—eighty francs I shall have to make good to the two scamps!” As for Ascott, he was asking himself in ever-increasing bewilderment, if he were not the victim of a delusion, a nightmare, a hideous dream. Yes, he had a perfect recollection of the evening’s dinner that began so gaily, and he was bound to confess that at the end of the meal, taking advantage of old Moche’s absence, he had indeed wronged little Nini—though all the same, he could not help thinking the girl had not offered any very determined resistance. But of what might have happened afterwards, he could recall nothing whatever. He seemed to remember falling fast asleep, and he could not for an instant believe he had gone out to look for a pair of apaches to have Nini Guinon forcibly carried off to his house.... Yet, it _might_ be so, for on the one hand they said it was, while on the other, on awakening he had actually found Nini fast asleep on the couch in his dressing room. But presently the young Englishman began to ask himself what, after all, was the vast importance of all these incidents, and why such a mighty disturbance was being made over the adventure. He had not to wait long for the explanation! Meanwhile, Nini was ready to go; the girl looked prettier than ever with her modest mien and assumed look of shamefacedness, as she made slowly for the door, by which “Bull’s-eye” and the “Gasman” had already taken their departure some while ago. After casting a long look of affection and reproach at her rich lover, she preceded her uncle and the magistrate as they left the room. But before actually crossing the threshold, the magistrate called a halt, to point out to Ascott the consequences implied by his visit. “All this, sir, makes it my duty,” he announced sternly, “to draw up an official report; you must be aware that the position in which you have placed yourself is a very serious one; it is a matter for the Criminal Assize, involving as it does, abduction of a minor, further aggravated by violation and rape. I ought, properly speaking, to arrest you. Be very grateful I do not do so, and hold yourself at the disposition of the Court.”