His aim was to reach the minds and the reasoning faculties of his hearers just as Monsieur de Grandville had aimed at the heart and the imagination.

The latter, however, had seriously entangled the convictions of the jury, and the public prosecutor found his well-laid arguments ineffectual.

This was so plain that the counsel for the Messieurs d'Hauteserre and Gothard appealed to the judgment of the jury, asking that the case against their clients be abandoned.

The prosecutor demanded a postponement till the next day in order that he might prepare an answer.

Bordin, who saw acquittal in the eyes of the jury if they deliberated on the case at once, opposed the delay of even one night by arguments of legal right and justice to his innocent clients; but in vain,--the court allowed it.
"The interests of society are as great as those of the accused," said the president.