第 九 章 · The visitor who risks himself in the labyrinth of galleries and

stairways in the Palais de Justice, and mounts to the third story in

the left wing, will find himself in a long, low-studded gallery, badly

lighted by narrow windows, and pierced at short intervals by little

doors, like a hall at the ministry or at a lodging-house.

It is a place difficult to view calmly, the imagination makes it appear

so dark and dismal.

It needs a Dante to compose an inscription to place above the doors

which lead from it. From morning to night, the flagstones resound under

the heavy tread of the gendarmes, who accompany the prisoners. You can

scarcely recall anything but sad figures there. There are the parents or

friends of the accused, the witnesses, the detectives. In this gallery,

far from the sight of men, the judicial curriculum is gone through with.

Each one of the little doors, which has its number painted over it in

black, opens into the office of a judge of inquiry. All the rooms are

just alike: if you see one, you have seen them all. They have nothing

terrible nor sad in themselves; and yet it is difficult to enter one of

them without a shudder. They are cold. The walls all seem moist with

the tears which have been shed there. You shudder, at thinking of the

avowals wrested from the criminals, of the confessions broken with sobs

murmured there.

In the office of the judge of inquiry, Justice clothes herself in none

of that apparel which she afterwards dons in order to strike fear into

the masses. She is still simple, and almost disposed to kindness. She

says to the prisoner,--

“I have strong reasons for thinking you guilty; but prove to me your

innocence, and I will release you.”

On entering one of these rooms, a stranger would imagine that he got

into a cheap shop by mistake. The furniture is of the most primitive

sort, as is the case in all places where important matters are

transacted. Of what consequence are surroundings to the judge hunting

down the author of a crime, or to the accused who is defending his life?

A desk full of documents for the judge, a table for the clerk, an

arm-chair, and one or two chairs besides comprise the entire furniture

of the antechamber of the court of assize. The walls are hung with green

paper; the curtains are green, and the floors are carpeted in the same

color. Monsieur Daburon’s office bore the number fifteen.