After the act of accusation, which lays down all the suppositions against Peytel as facts, which will not admit the truth of one of the prisoner’s allegations in his own defence, comes the trial. The judge is quite as impartial as the preparer of the indictment, as will be seen by the following specimens of his interrogatories:-- _Judge._ The act of accusation finds in your statement contradictions, improbabilities, impossibilities. Thus your domestic, who had determined to assassinate you, in order to rob you, and who _must have calculated upon the consequence of a failure_, had neither passport nor money upon him. This is very unlikely; because he could not have gone far with only a single halfpenny, which was all he had. _Prisoner._ My servant was known, and often passed the frontier without a passport. _Judge._ _Your domestic had to assassinate two persons_, and had no weapon but a single pistol. He had no dagger; and the only thing found on him was a knife. _Prisoner._ In the car there were several turner’s implements, which he might have used. _Judge._ But he had not those arms upon him, because you pursued him immediately. He had, according to you, only this old pistol. _Prisoner._ I have nothing to say. _Judge._ Your domestic, instead of flying into woods, which skirt the road, ran straight forward on the road itself: _this, again, is very unlikely_. _Prisoner._ This is a conjecture I could answer by another conjecture; I can only reason on the facts. _Judge._ How far did you pursue him? _Prisoner._ I don’t know exactly. _Judge._ You said ‘two hundred paces.’ No answer from the prisoner. _Judge._ Your domestic was young, active, robust, and tall. He was ahead of you. You were in a carriage, from which you had to descend: you had to take your pistols from a cushion, and _then_ your hammer;--how are we to believe that you could have caught him, if he ran? It is _impossible_. _Prisoner._ I can’t explain it: I think that Rey had some defect in one leg. I, for my part, run tolerably fast. _Judge._ At what distance from him did you fire your first shot? _Prisoner._ I can’t tell. _Judge._ Perhaps he was not running when you fired. _Prisoner._ I saw him running. _Judge._ In what position was your wife? _Prisoner._ She was leaning on my left arm, and the man was on the right side of the carriage. _Judge._ The shot must have been fired _à bout portant_, because it burned the eyebrows and lashes entirely. The assassin must have passed his pistol across your breast. _Prisoner._ The shot was not fired so close; I am convinced of it: professional gentlemen will prove it.