‘My servant, Louis Rey, was very sombre and reserved,’ says Peytel; ‘he refused to call me in the morning, to carry my money-chest to my room, to cover the open car when it rained.’ The Prosecutor disproves these by stating that Rey talked with the inn maids and servants, asked if his master was up, and stood in the inn-yard, grooming the horses, with his master by his side, neither speaking to the other. Might he not have talked to the maids, and yet been sombre when speaking to his master? Might he not have neglected to call his master, and yet have asked whether he was awake? Might he not have said that the inn gates were safe, out of hearing of the ostler witness? Mr. Substitute’s answers to Peytel’s statements are no answers at all. Every word Peytel said might be true, and yet Louis Rey might not have committed the murder; or every word might have been false, and yet Louis Rey might have committed the murder. ‘Then,’ says Mr. Substitute, ‘how many obstacles are there to the commission of the crime! And these are:-- ‘1. Rey provided himself with _one_ holster pistol, to kill two people, knowing well that one of them had always a brace of pistols about him. ‘2. He does not think of firing until his master’s eyes are open: fires at six paces, not caring at whom he fires, and then runs away. ‘3. He could not have intended to kill his master, because he had no passport in his pocket, and no clothes; and because he must have been detained at the frontier until morning; and because he would have had to drive two carriages, in order to avoid suspicion. ‘4. And, a most singular circumstance, the very pistol which was found by his side had been bought at the shop of a man at Lyons, who perfectly recognised Peytel as one of his customers, though he could not say he had sold that particular weapon to Peytel.’ Does it follow, from this, that Louis Rey is not the murderer--much more, that Peytel is? Look at argument No. 1. Rey had no need to kill two people: he wanted the money, and not the blood. Suppose he had killed Peytel, would he not have mastered Madame Peytel easily?--a weak woman, in an excessively delicate situation, incapable of much energy at the best of times.