She hastened to write them in cipher; and about four o’clock the letter
was sent to Mechinet, the clerk.
The next evening the answer came.
“Dr. Seignebos is no doubt right, my dear friends,” wrote Jacques. “I
have but too good reasons to be sure that Cocoleu’s imbecility is partly
assumed, and that his evidence has been prompted by others. Still I
must beg you will take no steps that would lead to another medical
investigation. The slightest imprudence may ruin me. For Heaven’s sake
wait till the end of the preliminary investigation, which is now near at
hand, from what M. Galpin tells me.”
The letter was read in the family circle; and the poor mother uttered a
cry of despair as she heard those words of resignation.
“Are we going to obey him,” she said, “when we all know that he is
ruining himself by his obstinacy?”