PRESIDENT.--I request counsel for the defence not to interrupt.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL.--And it is in this ambition of the accused that we
must look for a key to that terrible hatred which has led him to
commit such crimes. That lawsuit about a stream of water is a matter of
comparatively little importance. But Jacques de Boiscoran was preparing
to become a candidate for election.
A.--I never dreamed of it.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL.--(Not noticing the interruption.) He did not say so;
but his friends said it for him, and went about everywhere, repeating
that by his position, his wealth, and his opinions, he was the man best
worthy of the votes of Republicans. And he would have had an excellent
chance, if there had not stood between him and the object of his desires
Count Claudieuse, who had already more than once succeeded in defeating
similar plots.