They answered every question with remarkable unanimity.

After riding about the forest all the morning they had returned to Cinq-Cygne for breakfast at one o'clock.

After that meal, from three to half-past five in the afternoon, they had returned to the forest.

That was the basis of each testimony; any variations were merely individual circumstances.

When the president asked the Messieurs de Simeuse why they had ridden out so early, they both declared that wishing, since their return, to buy back Gondreville and intending to make an offer to Malin who had arrived the night before, they had gone out early with their cousin and Michu to make certain examinations of the property on which to base their offer.
During that time the Messieurs d'Hauteserre, their cousin, and Gothard had chased a wolf which was reported in the forest by the peasantry.