"Nothing more could be elicited, and here ended the investigation for the present.. Valentine's appeals for justice and asseverations of innocence passed quite unheeded; and, indeed, he was so overpowered himself by the body of circumstantial evidence that had been brought against him, that he could scarcely expect his accusers should listen to him; nor was he surprised to hear the Juge de paix directing his clerk to draw up his committal, and forthwith see him conducted to the maison forte.
"Whilst the committal was preparing, the surgeon humanely administered some relief to his hurt leg, the torture of which, but for the greater torture of his mind, would have been almost insupportable. But the greater evil somewhat subdued the less. His thoughts were so bewildered and distracted by the strangeness of his situation, that they could grapple with nothing—not even his acute bodily pain could fix them; and he was placed in a chair, and carried through the streets to prison, in a state of unconsciousness almost amounting to an annihilation of the faculties.
"'C'est singulier!' said the Juge de paix, as he arose from his seat, after Valentine was carried away—'On ne peut pas en douter—cepen-
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