Now we come, as the gentleman with the crimson handkerchief coyly
showing between dress waistcoat and shirt might have said, waving
his pointer as the canvas of the diorama rumbled on its rollers, to
Riguepeu!
Some twenty years have elapsed since the Veuve Boursier stumbled from
the stand of the accused in the Assize Court of the Seine, acquitted of
the poisoning of her grocer husband, but convicted of a moral flaw which
may (or may not) have rather diminished thereafter the turnover of the
epicerie in the Rue de la Paix. One hopes that her punishment finished
with her acquittal, and that the mood of the mob, as apt as a flying
straw to veer for a zephyr as for a whirlwind, swung to her favour from
mere revulsion on her escape from the scaffold. The one thing is as
likely as the other. Didn't the heavy man of the fit-up show, eighteen
months after his conviction for rape (the lapse of time being occupied
in paying the penalty), return as an actor to the scene of his
delinquency to find himself, not, as he expected, pelted with dead cats
and decaying vegetables, but cheered to the echo? So may it have been
with the Veuve Boursier.
Though in 1844, the year in which the poison trial at Auch was opened,
four years had passed since the conviction of Mme Lafarge at Tulle,
controversy on the latter case still was rife throughout France. The two
cases were linked, not only in the minds of the lay public, but
through close analogy in the idea of lawyers and experts in medical
jurisprudence. From her prison cell Marie Lafarge watched the progress
of the trial in Gascony. And when its result was published one may be
sure she shed a tear or two.
But to Riguepeu...
You will not find it on anything but the biggest-scale maps. It is
an inconsiderable town a few miles from Vic-Fezensac, a town not much
bigger than itself and some twenty kilometres from Auch, which is the
capital of the department of Gers. You may take it that Riguepeu lies in
the heart of the Armagnac district.
Some little distance from Riguepeu itself, on the top of a rise, stood
the Chateau Philibert, a one-floored house with red tiles and green
shutters. Not much of a chateau, it was also called locally La Maison de
Madame. It belonged in 1843 to Henri Lacoste, together with considerable
land about it. It was reckoned that Lacoste, with the land and other
belongings, was worth anything between 600,000 and 700,000 francs.
Henri had become rich late in life. The house and the domain had been
left him by his brother Philibert, and another brother's death had also
been of some benefit to him. Becoming rich, Henri Lacoste thought it
his duty to marry, and in 1839, though already sixty-six years of age,
picked on a girl young enough to have been his granddaughter.
Euphemie Verges was, in fact, his grand-niece. She lived with her
parents at Mazeyrolles, a small village in the foothills of the
Pyrenees. Compared with Lacoste, the Verges were said to be poor.
Lacoste took it on himself to look after the girl's education, having
her sent at his charges to a convent at Tarbes. In 1841, on the 2nd of
May, the marriage took place.
If this marriage of youth with crabbed age resulted in any unhappiness
the neighbours saw little of it. Though it was rumoured that for her
old and rich husband Euphemie had given up a young man of her fancy in
Tarbes, her conduct during the two years she lived with Lacoste seemed
to be irreproachable. Lacoste was rather a nasty old fellow from all
accounts. He was niggardly, coarse, and a womanizer. Euphemie's position
in the house was little better than that of head domestic servant, but
in this her lot was the common one for wives of her station in this part
of France. She appeared to be contented enough with it.
About two years after the marriage, on the 16th of May, 1843, to be
exact, after a trip with his wife to the fair at Riguepeu, old Lacoste
was taken suddenly ill, ultimately becoming violently sick. Eight days
later he died.
By a will which Henri had made two months after his marriage his wife
was his sole beneficiary, and this will was no sooner proved than the
widow betook herself to Tarbes, where she speedily began to make full
use of her fortune. Milliners and dressmakers were called into service,
and the widow blossomed forth as a lady of fashion. She next set up her
own carriage. If these proceedings had not been enough to excite envy
among her female neighbours the frequent visits paid to her in her
genteel apartments by a young man did the trick. The young man came on
the scene less than two months after the death of the old man. It was
said that his visits to the widow were prolonged until midnight. Scandal
resulted, and out of the scandal rumour regarding the death of Henri
Lacoste. It began to be said that the old man had died of poison.
It was in December, six months after the death of Lacoste, that the
rumours came to the ears of the magistrates. Nor was there lack of
anonymous letters. It was the Widow Lacoste herself, however, who
demanded an exhumation and autopsy on the body of her late husband--this
as a preliminary to suing her traducers. Note, in passing, how her
action matches that of Veuve Boursier.
On the orders of the Juge d'instruction an autopsy was begun on the 18th
of December. The body of Lacoste was exhumed, the internal organs
were extracted, and these, with portions of the muscular tissue, were
submitted to analysis by a doctor of Auch, M. Bouton, and two chemists
of the same city, MM. Lidange and Pons, who at the same time examined
samples of the soil in which the body had been interred. The finding was
that the body of Lacoste contained some arsenical preparation.
The matter now appearing to be grave, additional scientific assurance
was sought. Three of the most distinguished chemists in Paris were
called into service for a further analysis. They were MM. Devergie,
Pelouze, and Flandin. Their report ran in part:
The portion of the liver on which we have experimented proved to contain
a notable quantity of arsenic, amounting to more than five milligrammes;
the portions of the intestines and tissue examined also contained
appreciable traces which, though in smaller proportion than contained by
the liver, accord with the known features of arsenical poisoning. There
is no appearance of the toxic element in the earth taken from the grave
or in the material of the coffin.
As soon as Mme Lacoste was apprised of the findings of the autopsy she
got into her carriage and was driven to Auch, where she visited a friend
of her late husband and of herself. To him she announced her intention
of surrendering herself to the Procureur du Roi. The friend strongly
advised her against doing any such thing, advice which Mme Lacoste
accepted with reluctance.
On the 5th of January a summons to appear was issued for Mme Lacoste.
She was seen that day in Auch, walking the streets on the arm of a
friend. She even went to the post-office, but the police agents failed
to find her. She stopped the night in the town. Next day she was at
Riguepeu. She was getting out of her carriage when a servant pointed
out gendarmes coming up the hill with the Mayor. When those officials
arrived Euphemie was well away. Search was made through the house and
outbuildings, but without result. "Don't bother yourself looking any
further, Monsieur le Maire," said one of the servants. "The mistress
isn't far away, but she's in a place where I could hide a couple of oxen
without you finding them."
From then on Mme Lacoste was hunted for everywhere. The roads to Tarbes,
Toulouse, and Vic-Fezensac were patrolled by brigades of gendarmes day
and night, but there was no sign of the fugitive. It was rumoured that
she had got away to Spain, that she was cached in a barrel at Riguepeu,
that she was in the fields disguised as a shepherd, that she had taken
the veil.
In the meantime the process against her went forward. Evidence was
to hand which seemed to inculpate with Mme Lacoste a poor and old
schoolmaster of Riguepeu named Joseph Meilhan. The latter, arrested,
stoutly denied not only his own part in the supposed crime, but also
the guilt of Mme Lacoste. "Why doesn't she come forward?" he asked. "She
knows perfectly well she has nothing to fear--no more than I have."
From the 'information' laid by the court of first instance at Auch a
warrant was issued for the appearance of Mme Lacoste and Meilhan before
the Assize of Gers. Mme Lacoste was apparently well instructed by her
friends. She did not come into the open until the last possible moment.
She gave herself up at the Auch prison on the 4th of July.
Her health seemed to have suffered little from the vicissitudes of her
flight. It was noticed that her hair was short, a fact which seemed to
point to her having disguised herself. But, it is said, she exhibited a
serenity of mind which consorted ill with the idea of guilt. She faced
an interrogation lasting three hours without faltering.
On the 10th of July she appeared before the Gers Assize Court, held at
Auch. The President was M. Donnoderie. Counsel for the prosecution,
as it were, was the Procureur du Roi, M. Cassagnol. Mme Lacoste was
defended by Maitre Alem-Rousseau, leader of the bar of Auch.
The case aroused the liveliest interest, people flocking to the town
from as far away as Paris itself--so much so that at 6.30 in the morning
the one-time palace of the Archbishops of Auch, in the hall of which the
court was held, was packed.
The accused were called. First to appear was Joseph Meilhan. He was
a stout little old boy of sixty-six, rosy and bright-eyed, with short
white hair and heavy black eyebrows. He was calm and smiling, completely
master of himself.
Mme Lacoste then appeared on the arm of her advocate. She was dressed
in full widow's weeds. A little creature, slender but not rounded of
figure, she is described as more agreeable-looking than actually pretty.
After the accused had answered with their names and descriptions the
acte d'accusation was read. It was a long document. It recalled the
circumstances of the Lacoste marriage and of the death of the old man,
with the autopsy and the finding of traces of arsenic. It spoke of the
lowly household tasks that Mme Lacoste had performed with such goodwill
from the beginning, and of the reward for her diligence which came to
her by the making of a holograph will in which her husband made her his
sole heir.
But the understanding between husband and wife did not last long, the
acte went on. Lacoste ardently desired a son and heir, and his wife
appeared to be barren. He confided his grief to an old friend, one
Lespere. Lespere pointed out that Euphemie was not only Lacoste's wife,
but his kinswoman as well. To this Lacoste replied that the fact did
not content him. "I tell you on the quiet," he said to his friend, "I've
made my arrangements. If SHE knew--she's capable of poisoning me to get
herself a younger man." Lespere told him not to talk rubbish, in effect,
but Lacoste was stubborn on his notion.
This was but a year after the marriage. It seemed that Lacoste had a
melancholy presentiment of the fate which was to be his.
It was made out that Euphemie suffered from the avarice and jealousy of
her old husband. She was given no money, was hardly allowed out of the
house, and was not permitted even to go to Vespers alone. And then, said
the accusation, she discovered that her husband wanted an heir. She
had reason to fear that he would go about getting one by an illicit
association.
In the middle of 1842 she overheard her husband bargaining with one of
the domestics. The girl was asking for 100 pistoles (say, L85), while
her husband did not want to give more than 600 francs (say, L24).
"Euphemie Verges had no doubt," ran the accusation, "that this was the
price of an adulterous contract, and she insisted on Marie Dupuys' being
sent from the house. This was the cause of disagreement between the
married pair, which did not conclude with the departure of the servant."
Later another servant, named Jacquette Larrieux, told Mme Lacoste in
confidence that the master was trying to seduce her by the offer of a
pension of 2000 francs or a lump sum of 20,000.
Euphemie Verges, said the accusation, thus thought herself exposed
daily, by the infidelity of her husband, to the loss of all her hopes.
Also, talking to a Mme Bordes about the two servants some days after
Lacoste's death, she said, "I had a bad time with those two girls! If my
husband had lived longer I might have had nothing, because he wanted a
child that he could leave everything to."
The acte d'accusation enlarged on the situation, then went on to bring
in Joseph Meilhan as Euphemie's accomplice. It made him out to be a bad
old man indeed. He had seduced, it was said, a young girl named Lescure,
who became enceinte, afterwards dying from an abortion which Meilhan was
accused of having procured. It might be thought that the society of such
a bad old man would have disgusted a young woman, but Euphemie Verges
admitted him to intimacy. He was, it was said, the confidant for
her domestic troubles, and it was further rumoured that he acted as
intermediary in a secret correspondence that she kept up with a young
man of Tarbes who had been courting her before her marriage. The
counsels of such a man were not calculated to help Mme Lacoste in her
quarrels with her unfaithful and unlovable husband.
Meanwhile M. Lacoste was letting new complaints be heard regarding his
wife. Again Lespere was his confidant. His wife was bad and sulky. He
was very inclined to undo what he had done for her. This was in March of
1843.
Towards the end of April he made a like complaint to another old
friend, one Dupouy, who accused him of neglecting old friends through
uxoriousness. Lacoste said he found little pleasure in his young wife.
He was, on the contrary, a martyr. He was on the point of disinheriting
her.
And so, with the usual amount of on dit and disait-on, the acte
d'accusation came to the point of Lacoste at the Riguepeu fair. He set
out in his usual health, but, several hours later, said to one Laffon,
"I have the shivers, cramps in the stomach. After being made to drink by
that ---- Meilhan I felt ill."
Departing from the fair alone, he met up with Jean Durieux, to whom he
said, "That ---- of a Meilhan asked me to have a drink, and afterwards I
had colic, and wanted to vomit."
Arrived home, Lacoste said to Pierre Cournet that he had been seized by
a colic which made him ill all over, plaguing him, giving him a desire
to vomit which he could not satisfy. Cournet noticed that Lacoste was as
white as a sheet. He advised going to bed and taking hot water. Lacoste
took the advice. During the night he was copiously sick. The old man was
in bed in an alcove near the kitchen, but next night he was put into a
room out of the way of noise.
Euphemie looked after her husband alone, preparing his drinks and
admitting nobody to see him. She let three days pass without calling a
doctor. Lacoste, it was true, had said he did not want a doctor, but,
said the accusation, "there is no proof that he persisted in that wish."
On the fourth day she sent a summary of the illness to Dr Boubee, asking
for written advice. On the fifth day a surgeon was called, M. Lasmolles,
who was told that Lacoste had eaten a meal of onions, garlic stems, and
beans. But the story of this meal was a lie, a premeditated lie. On the
eve of the fair Mme Lacoste was already speaking of such a meal, saying
that that sort of thing always made her husband ill.
According to the accusation, the considerable amount of poison found in
the body established that the arsenic had been administered on several
occasions, on the first by Meilhan and on the others by Mme Lacoste.
When Henri Lacoste had drawn his last breath his wife shed a few tears.
But presently her grief gave place to other preoccupations. She herself
looked out the sheet for wrapping the corpse, and thereafter she began
to search in the desk for the will which made her her husband's sole
heir.
Next day Meilhan, who had not once looked in on Lacoste during his
illness, hastened to visit the widow. The widow invited him to dinner.
The day after that he dined with her again, and they were seen walking
together. Their intimacy seemed to grow daily. But the friendship of
Mme Lacoste for Meilhan did not end there. Not very many days after
the death of Lacoste Meilhan met the Mayor of Riguepeu, M. Sabazan, and
conducted him in a mysterious manner into his schoolroom. Telling the
Mayor that he knew him to be a man of discretion, he confided in him
that the Veuve Lacoste intended giving him (Meilhan) a bill on one
Castera. Did the Mayor know Castera to be all right? The Mayor replied
that a bill on Castera was as good as gold itself. Meilhan said that Mme
Lacoste had assured him this was but the beginning of what she meant to
do for him.
Meilhan wrote to Castera, who called on him. The schoolmaster told
Castera that in return for 2000 francs which she had borrowed from him
Mme Lacoste had given him a note for 1772 francs, which was due from
Castera to Henri Lacoste as part inheritance from a brother. Meilhan
showed Castera the original note, which was to be renewed in Meilhan's
favour. The accusation dwelt on the different versions regarding his
possession of the note given by Meilhan to the Mayor and to Castera.
Meilhan was demonstrably lying to conceal Mme Lacoste's liberality.
Some little time after this Meilhan invited the Mayor a second time into
the schoolroom, and told him that Mme Lacoste meant to assure him of a
life annuity of 400 francs, and had asked him to prepare the necessary
document for her to sign. But there was another proposition. If Meilhan
would return the note for 1772 francs owing by Castera she would make
the annuity up to 500. What, asked Meilhan, would M. le Maire do in
his place? The Mayor replied that in Meilhan's place he would keep the
Castera note and be content with the 400 annuity. Then Meilhan asked
the Mayor to draw up for him a specimen of the document necessary for
creating the annuity. This M. Sabazan did at once, and gave the draft to
Meilhan.
Some days later still Meilhan told M. Sabazan that Mme Lacoste did not
wish to use the form of document suggested by the Mayor, but had written
one herself. Meilhan showed the Mayor the widow's document, and begged
him to read it to see if it was in proper form. Sabazan read the
document. It created an annuity of 400 francs, payable yearly in the
month of August. The Mayor did not know actually if the deed was in
the writing of Mme Lacoste. He did not know her fist. But he could be
certain that it was not in Meilhan's hand.
This deed was later shown by Meilhan to the cure of Riguepeu, who saw
at least that the deed was not in Meilhan's writing. He noticed that it
showed some mistakes, and that the signature of the Widow Lacoste began
with the word "Euphemie."
In the month of August Meilhan was met coming out of Mme Lacoste's by
the Mayor. Jingling money in his pocket, the schoolmaster told the
Mayor he had just drawn the first payment of his annuity. Later Meilhan
bragged to the cure of Basais that he was made for life. He took a
handful of louis from his pocket, and told the priest that this was his
daily allowance.
"Whence," demanded the acte d'accusation, "came all those riches, if
they were not the price of his share in the crime?"
But the good offices of Mme Lacoste towards Meilhan did not end with
the giving of money. In the month of August Meilhan was chased from his
lodgings by his landlord, Lescure, on suspicion of having had intimate
relations with the landlord's wife. The intervention of the Mayor was
ineffective in bringing about a reconciliation between Meilhan and
Lescure. Meilhan begged Mme Lacoste to intercede, and where the Mayor
had failed she succeeded.
While Mme Lacoste was thus smothering Meilhan with kindnesses she was
longing herself to make the most of the fortune which had come to her.
From the first days of her widowhood she was constantly writing letters
which Mme Lescure carried for her. Euphemie had already begun to talk of
remarriage. Her choice was already made. "If I marry again," she said, a
few days after the death of Lacoste, "I won't take anybody but M. Henri
Berens, of Tarbes. He was my first love."
The accusation told of Euphemie's departure for Tarbes, where almost
her first caller was this M. Henri Berens. The next day she gave up
the lodgings rented by her late husband, to establish herself in rich
apartments owned by one Fourcade, which she furnished sumptuously. The
accusation dwelt on her purchase of horses and a carriage and on her
luxurious way of living. It also brought forward some small incidents
illustrative of her distaste for the memory of her late husband. It
dealt with information supplied by her landlord which indicated that her
conscience was troubled. Twice M. Fourcade found her trembling, as with
fear. On his asking her what was the matter she replied, "I was thinking
of my husband--if he saw me in a place furnished like this!"
(It need hardly be pointed out, considering the sour and avaricious
ways of her late husband, that Euphemie need not have been
conscience-stricken with his murder to have trembled over her lavish
expenditure of his fortune. But the point is typical of the trivialities
with which the acte d'accusation was padded out.)
The accusation claimed that a young man had several times been seen
leaving Euphemie's apartments at midnight, and spoke of protests made by
Mme Fourcade. Euphemie declared herself indifferent to public opinion.
Public opinion, however, beginning to rise against her, Euphemie had
need to resort to lying in order to explain her husband's death. To some
she repeated the story of the onion-garlic-and-beans meal, adding that,
in spite of his indigestion, he had eaten gluttonously later in the day.
To others she attributed his illness to two indigestible repasts made at
the fair. To others again she said Lacoste had died of a hernia, forced
out by his efforts to vomit. She was even accused of saying that
the doctor had attributed the death to this cause. This, said the
indictment, was a lie. Dr Lasmolles declared that he had questioned
Lacoste about the supposed hernia, and that the old man denied having
any such thing.
What had brought about Lacoste's fatal illness was the wine Meilhan had
made him drink at Rigeupeu fair.
With the rise of suspicion against her and her accomplice, Mme Lacoste
put up a brave front. She wrote to the Procureur du Roi, demanding an
exhumation, with the belief, no doubt, that time would have effaced the
poison. At the same time she sent the bailiff Labadie to Riguepeu, to
find out the names of those who were traducing her, and to say that she
intended to prosecute her calumniators with the utmost rigour of the
law. This, said the accusation, was nothing but a move to frighten the
witnesses against her into silence. Instead of making good her threats
the Widow Lacoste disappeared.
On the arrest of Meilhan search of his lodgings resulted in the finding
of the note on Castera for 1772 francs, and of a sum of 800 francs in
gold and silver. But of the deed creating the annuity of 400 francs
there was no trace.
Meilhan denied everything. In respect of the wine he was said to have
given Lacoste he said he had passed the whole of the 16th of May in the
company of a friend called Mothe, and that Mothe could therefore prove
Meilhan had never had a drink with Lacoste. Mothe, however, declared he
had left Meilhan that day at three o'clock in the afternoon, and it was
just at this time that Meilhan had taken Lacoste into the auberge where
he lived to give him the poisoned drink. It was between three and four
that Lacoste first showed signs of being ill.
Asked to explain the note for 1772 francs, Meilhan said that, about two
months after Lacoste's death, the widow complained of not having any
ready money. She had the Castera note, and he offered to discount it
for her. This was a palpable lie, said the accusation. It was only a
few days after Lacoste's death that Meilhan spoke to the Mayor about
the Castera note. Meilhan's statement was full of discrepancies. He told
Castera that he held the note against 2000 francs previously lent to
the widow. He now said that he had discounted the note on sight. But
the fact was that since Meilhan had come to live in Riguepeu he had been
without resources. He had stripped himself in order to establish his son
in a pharmacy at Vic-Fezensac. His profession of schoolmaster scarcely
brought him in enough for living expenses. How, then, could he possibly
be in a position to lend Mme Lacoste 2000 francs? And how had he managed
to collect the 800 odd francs that were found in his lodgings? The
real explanation lay in the story he had twice given to the Mayor, M.
Sabazan: he was in possession of the Castera note through the generosity
of his accomplice.
Meilhan was in still greater difficulty to explain the document which
had settled on him an annuity of 400 francs, and which had been seen in
his hands. Denial was useless, since he had asked the Mayor to make a
draft for him, and since he had shown that functionary the deed signed
by Mme Lacoste. Here, word for word, is the explanation given by the
rubicund Joseph:
"My son," he said, "kept asking me to contribute to the upkeep of one of
his boys who is in the seminary of Vic-Fezensac. I consistently refused
to do so, because I wanted to save what little I might against the time
when I should be unable to work any longer. Six months ago my son wrote
to the cure, begging him to speak to me. The cure, not wishing to do
so, sent on the letter to the Mayor, who communicated with me. I replied
that I did not wish to do anything, adding that I intended investing my
savings in a life annuity. At the same time I begged M. Sabazan to make
me a draft in the name of Mme Lacoste. She knew nothing about it. M.
Sabazan sent me on the draft. It seemed to me well drawn up. I rewrote
it, and showed it to M. Sabazan. At the foot of the deed I put the words
'Veuve Lacoste,' but I had been at pains to disguise my handwriting.
I did all this with the intention of making my son believe, when my
infirmities obliged me to retire to his household, that my income came
from a life annuity some one had given me; and to hide from him where
I had put my capital I wanted to persuade M. Sabazan that the deed
actually existed, so that he could bear witness to the fact to my son."
Here, said the accusation, Meilhan was trying to make out that it was on
the occasion of a letter from his son that he had spoken to the Mayor of
the annuity.
The cure of Riguepeu, however, while admitting that he had received
such a letter from Meilhan's son, declared that this was long before
the death of Henri Lacoste. The Mayor also said that he had spoken
to Meilhan of his son's letter well before the time when the accused
mentioned the annuity to him and asked for a draft of the assignment.
The accusation ridiculed Meilhan's explanation, dubbing it just
another of the schoolmaster's lies. It brought forward a contradictory
explanation given by Meilhan to one Thener, a surgeon, whom he knew to
be in frequent contact with the son whom the document was intended to
deceive. Meilhan informed Thener that he had fabricated the deed, and
had shown it round, in order to inspire such confidence in him as would
secure him refuge when he had to give up schoolmastering.
These contradictory and unbelievable explanations were the fruit of
Meilhan's efforts to cover the fact that the annuity was the price paid
him by the Widow Lacoste for his part in the murder of her husband. It
was to be remembered that M. Sabazan, whose testimony was impeccable,
had seen Meilhan come from the house of Mme Lacoste, and that Meilhan
had jingled money, saying he had just drawn the first payment of his
annuity.
The accusation, in sum, concentrated on the suspicious relationship
between Meilhan and the Widow Lacoste. It was a long document, but
something lacking in weight of proof--proof of the actual murder, that
is, if not of circumstance.
V
The process in a French criminal court was--and still is--somewhat
long-winded. The Procureur du Roi had to go over the accusation in
detail, making the most of Mme Lacoste's intimacy with the ill-reputed
old fellow. That parishioner, far from being made indignant by the
animadversions of M. Cassagnol, listened to the recital of his misdeeds
with a faint smile. He was perhaps a little astonished at some of the
points made against him, but, it is said, contented himself with
a gesture of denial to the jury, and listened generally as if with
pleasure at hearing himself so well spoken of.
He was the first of the accused to be questioned.
It was brought out that he had been a soldier under the Republic, and
then for a time had studied pharmacy. He had been a corn-merchant in a
small way, and then had started schoolmaster.
Endeavour was made to get him to admit guilty knowledge of the death of
the Lescure girl. He had never even heard of an abortion. The girl had
a stomach-ache. This line failing, he was interrogated on the matter of
being chased from his lodgings by the landlord-father, it would seem, of
the aforementioned girl. (It may be noted that Meilhan lived on in the
auberge after her death.) Meilhan had an innocent explanation of the
incident. It was all a mistake on the part of Lescure. And he hadn't
been chased out of the auberge. He had simply gone out with his coat
slung about his shoulders. Mme Lacoste went with him to patch the matter
up.
He had not given Lacoste a drink, hadn't even spoken with him, at the
Riguepeu fair, but had passed the day with M. Mothe. Cournet had told
him of Lacoste's having a headache, but had said nothing of vomitings.
He had not seen Lacoste during the latter's illness, because Lacoste was
seeing nobody.
This business of the annuity had got rather entangled, but he would
explain. He had lodged 1772 francs with Mme Lacoste, and she had given
him a bill on Castera. Whether he had given the money before or after
getting the bill he could not be sure. He thought afterwards. He had
forgotten the circumstances while in prison.
Meilhan stuck pretty firmly to his story that it was to deceive his son
that he had fabricated the deed of annuity. He couldn't help it if the
story sounded thin. It was the fact.
How had he contrived to save, as he said, 3000 francs? His yearly income
during his six years at Riguepeu had been only 500 francs. The court had
reason to be surprised.
"Ah! You're surprised!" exclaimed Meilhan, rather put out. But at
Breuzeville, where he was before Riguepeu, he had bed and board free. In
Riguepeu he had nothing off the spit for days on end. He spent only 130
francs a year, he said, giving details. And then he did a little trade
in corn.
He had destroyed the annuity deed only because it was worthless. As for
what he had said to the Mayor about drawing his first payment of the
pension, he had done it because he was a bit conscience-stricken over
fabricating the deed. He had been bragging--that was all.
The President, having already chidden Meilhan for being prolix in his
answers, now scolded him for anticipating the questions. But the fact
was that Meilhan was not to be pinned down.
The first questions put to Mme Lacoste were with regard to her marriage
and her relations with her husband. She admitted, incidentally, having
begun to receive a young man some six weeks after her husband's death,
but she had not known him before marriage. Meilhan had carried no
letters between them. She had married Lacoste of her own free will.
Lacoste had not asked any attentions from her that were not ordinarily
sought by a husband, and her care of him had been spontaneous. It was
true he was jealous, but he had not formally forbidden her pleasures.
She had renounced them, knowing he was easily upset. It was true that
she had seldom gone out, but she had never wanted to. Lacoste was no
more avaricious than most, and it was untrue that he had denied her any
necessaries.
Taken to the events of the fair day, Tuesday, the 16th of May, Mme
Lacoste maintained that her husband, on his return, complained only of
a headache. He had gone to bed early, but he usually did. That night he
slept in the same alcove as herself, but next night they separated.
In spite of the contrary evidence of witnesses, of which the President
reminded her, Mme Lacoste firmly maintained that it was not until the
Wednesday-Thursday night that Lacoste started to vomit. It was not until
that night that she began to attend to him. She had given him lemonade,
washed him, and so on.
The President was saying that nobody had been allowed near him, and that
a doctor was not called, when the accused broke in with a lively denial.
Anybody who wanted to could see him, and a doctor was called. This was
towards the last, the President pointed out. Mme Lacoste's advocate
intervened here, saying that it was the husband who did not wish a
doctor called, for reasons of his own. The President begged to be
allowed to hear the accused's own answers. He pointed out that the
ministrations of the accused had effected no betterment, but that the
illness had rapidly got worse. The delay in calling a doctor seemed to
lend a strange significance to the events.
Mme Lacoste answered in lively fashion, accenting her phrases with the
use of her hands: "But, monsieur, you do not take into account that it
was not until the night of Wednesday and the Thursday that my husband
began to vomit, and that it was two days after that he--he succumbed."
The President said a way remained of fixing the dates and clearing up
the point. He had a letter written by M. Lacoste to the doctor in which
he himself explained the state of his illness. It was pointed out to
him that the letter had been written by Mme Lacoste at her husband's
dictation.
The letter was dated the 19th (Friday). It was directed to M. Boubee,
doctor of medicine, in Vic-Fezensac. Perhaps it would be better to give
it in the original language. It is something frank in detail:
Depuis quelque temps j'avais perdu l'appetit et m'endormais de suite
quand j'etais assis. Mercredi il me vint un secours de nature par un
vomissement extraordinaire. Ces vomissements m'ont dure pendant un jour
et une nuit; je ne rendais que de la bile. La nuit passee, je n'en ai
pas rendu; dans ce moment, j'en rends encore. Vous sentez combien ces
efforts reiteres m'ont fatigue; ces grands efforts m'ont fait partir de
la bile par en bas; je vous demanderai, monsieur, si vous ne trouveriez
pas a propos que je prisse une medecine d'huile de ricin ou autre,
celle que vous jugerez a propos. Je vous demanderai aussi si je pourrais
prendre quelques bains. [signe]