In short, the large
room of the hotel was for this day transformed into a justice-chamber,
where Laurence Bigot, assisted by the magistrate of Argenteuil,
questioned numerous witnesses about the murder of Zambelli.
How many efforts had this zealous judge made since he quitted Rouen
on his search for the traces of the crime! He visited many villages,
questioned numerous officers of police; but all in vain. When he was
about to return, in despair of accomplishing his object, he was
informed that, some months before, a corpse had been discovered hid
in a vineyard near Argenteuil. Bigot hastened thither, and the state
of preservation of the remains enabled him, on viewing the body, to
decide clearly that it was that of Zambelli, according as he had
been described by Cornelius his brother.
The magistrate began to read the evidence aloud, when he was
interrupted by a piercing cry; and a blind man, whom no one had as
yet perceived, presented himself before the assembly. It was old
Gervais, a wandering beggar, born in the neighbourhood, well known,
and much liked.
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