Martin Guerre

Martin Guerre, by Alexandre Dumas, Pere, comes from the set of Eight Volumes of Celebrated Crimes. The text says we are sometimes astonished at the striking resemblance existing between two persons who are absolute strangers to each other, but in fact it is the opposite which ought to surprise us. A passage says a terrible arquebus-shot had passed through the leg of a wounded man, shattering the bone, so that amputation was absolutely necessary.

The text says a man resembled his companion so closely that no one could doubt they were brothers, twin brothers, probably. A passage says a woman could not ruin a man who was the father of her child without ruining herself, and that Martin Guerre bestowed the most tender care upon her. A member of the Parliament, M. de Coras, proposed as a last chance that Bertrande should be placed between the two rivals, trusting, he said, that in such a case a woman's instinct would divine the truth.