Since you allow that I may have said I was known by the name, but refuse to recognize the distinction between that and a statement that 'Lesperon' is my name, it would serve no purpose to summon the Captain." The President nodded, and with that the point was dismissed, and he proceeded as calmly as though there never had been any question of my identity.
"You are charged, Monsieur de Lesperon, with high treason in its most virulent and malignant form.

You are accused of having borne arms against His Majesty.

Have you anything to say ?" "I have to say that it is false, monsieur; that His Majesty has no more faithful or loving subject than am I." The President shrugged his shoulders, and a shade of annoyance crossed his face.
"If you are come here for no other purpose than to deny the statements that I make, I am afraid that we are but wasting time," he cried testily.

"If you desire it, I can summon Monsieur de Castelroux to swear that at the time of your arrest and upon being charged with the crime you made no repudiation of that charge." "Naturally not, monsieur," I cried, somewhat heated by this seemingly studied ignoring of important facts, "because I realized that it was Monsieur de Castelroux's mission to arrest and not to judge me.

Monsieur de Castelroux was an officer, not a Tribunal, and to have denied this or that to him would have been so much waste of breath." "Ah! Very nimble; very nimble, in truth, Monsieur de Lesperon, but scarcely convincing.