The trial could not be delayed any longer.
The prisoners, on their side, had made the best of their time.

By means, as we have seen, of an exchange of passports, Morgan had travelled sometimes as Ribier, and Ribier as Sainte-Hermine, and so with the others.

The result was a confusion in the testimony of the innkeepers, which the entries in their books only served to increase.

The arrival of travellers, noted on the registers an hour too early or an hour too late, furnished the prisoners with irrefutable alibis.

The judges were morally convinced of their guilt; but their conviction was impossible against such testimony.
On the other hand, it must be said that public sympathy was wholly with the prisoners.
The trial began.