"'Jacques, my child, take care; do not swear if it is not true; you
can repent, you can amend; there is still time.'

"And she wept.

"'You are a this and a that,' he said; 'you have always wanted to ruin
me.'

"Cambremer turned white and said,--

"'Such language to your mother increases your crime. Come, to the
point! Will you swear?'

"'Yes.'

"'Then,' Pierre said, 'was there upon your gold piece the little cross
which the sardine merchant who paid it to me scratched on ours?'

"Jacques broke down and wept.

"'Enough,' said Pierre. 'I shall not speak to you of the crimes you
have committed before this. I do not choose that a Cambremer should
die on a scaffold. Say your prayers and make haste. A priest is coming
to confess you.'

"The mother had left the room; she could not hear her son condemned.
After she had gone, Joseph Cambremer, the uncle, brought in the rector
of Piriac, to whom Jacques would say nothing. He was shrewd; he knew
his father would not kill him until he had made his confession.