Thus far the case is one of suspicion only. Waiting until the end of the trial before we decide on whom that suspicion ought to rest, let us now hear the evidence by which the Duparcs and their adherents proceeded <a href="http://www.shoppinglouisvuitt-online.co m">Louis Vuitton</a> to justify their conspiracy against the liberty and the life of a friendless girl.

Having secured Marie in solitary confinement, and having thus left the house and all that it contained for a whole night at the free disposal of the Duparcs, the Procurator Revel bethought himself, the morning after the arrest of his prisoner, of the necessity of proceeding <a href="http://www.louisvuittonoutletsyear.com& quot;>http://www.louisvuittonoutletsyear.com< ;/a> with something like official regularity. He accordingly issued his requisition to the Lieutenant-Criminel to accompany him to the house of Monsieur Duparc, attended by the medical officers and the clerk, to inquire into the circumstances under which the suspected death by poisoning of Monsieur De Beaulieu had taken place. Marie had been imprisoned on the evening of the seventh <a href="http://www.louisvuitton-sunglassess.com ">http://www.louisvuitton-sunglassess.com& lt;/a> of August, and this requisition is dated on the morning of the eighth. The document betrays one remarkable informality. It mentions the death of Monsieur De Beaulieu; but is absolutely silent on the subject of the alleged poisoning of seven persons at dinner the next day. And yet it was this latter circumstance only which first directed suspicion against <a href="http://www.cheaprayban-sunglassesoutlet s.com">cheap ray ban sunglasses outlet</a> Marie, and which induced Friley to lodge the information against her on which the Procurator was now acting. Probably Monsieur Revel��s legal acumen convinced him, at the outset, that the story of the poisoned dinner was too weak to be relied on.

The officers of the law, accompanied by the doctors, proceeded to the house of the Duparcs on the <a href="http://www.usalouisvuittonoutlet-stores .com">Louis Vuitton Outlet Handbags</a> eighth of August. After viewing the body of Monsieur De Beaulieu, the medical men were directed to open and examine it. They reported the discovery in the stomach of a reddish, brick-colored liquid, somewhat resembling the lees of wine. The mucous membrane was detached in some places, and its internal surface was corroded. On examining the reddish liquid, they <a href="http://www.louisvuitton--outletstore.ne t">Louis Vuitton Outlet Store</a> found it to contain a crystallized sediment, which, on analyzation, proved to be arsenic. Upon this, the doctors delivered it as their opinion that Monsieur De Beaulieu had been poisoned, and that poison had been the cause of his death.

The event having taken this serious turn, the first duty of the Lieutenant-Criminel (according to the French law) was to <a href="http://www.newbalance-factory-outlet.co m">new balance outlet</a> send for the servant on whom suspicion rested, to question her, and to confront her with the Duparcs. He did nothing of the kind; he made no inquiry after the servant (being probably unwilling to expose his colleague, the Procurator, who had illegally arrested and illegally imprisoned her); he never examined the kitchen utensils which the Commissary had locked <a href="http://www.michaelkorsoutletonlinesales store.com">http://www.michaelkorsoutletonl inesalesstore.com</a> up; he never opened the servant��s cupboard with the key that had been taken from her when she was searched in prison. All he did was to reduce the report of the doctors to writing, and to return to his office with his posse comitatus at his heels.

It was necessary to summon the witnesses and examine them. But the <a href="http://www.louisvuitton-lvpurses.com&qu ot;>http://www.louisvuitton-lvpurses.com</a& gt; Procurator Revel now conveniently remembered the story of the poisoned dinner, and he sent the Lieutenant-Criminel to examine the Duparcs and their friends at the private residence of the family, in consideration of the sickly condition of the eaters of the adulterated meal. It may be as well to observe, here as elsewhere, that these highly indulged personages had <a href="http://www.ralphlaurentrades.com"& gt;ralph lauren clothing</a> none of them been sufficiently inconvenienced even to go to bed, or in any way to alter their ordinary habits.

On the afternoon of the eighth, the Lieutenant-Criminel betook himself to the house of Monsieur Duparc, to collect evidence touching the death by poison of Monsieur De Beaulieu. The first witness called was Monsieur Duparc.

This gentleman, it will be remembered, <a href="http://www.2014guccioutletonline.com&qu ot;>gucci bags</a> was away from home on Monday, the sixth, when Monsieur De Beaulieu died, and only returned, at the summons of his eldest son, at half-past eleven on the forenoon of the seventh. He had nothing to depose connected with the death of his father-in-law, or with the events which might have taken place in the house on the night <a href="http://www.louisvuitton-plazabags.com&q uot;>http://www.louisvuitton-plazabags.com</ a> of the sixth and the morning of the seventh. On the other hand, he had a great deal to say about the state of his own stomach after the dinner of the seventh �� a species of information not calculated to throw much light on the subject of inquiry, which was the poisoning of Monsieur De Beaulieu.

The old lady, <a href="http://www.cheaplouisvuittonbagso.com&q uot;>http://www.cheaplouisvuittonbagso.com</ a> Madame De Beaulieu, was next examined, She could give no evidence of the slightest importance touching the matter in hand; but, like Monsieur Duparc, she had something to say on the topic of the poisoned dinner.

Madame Duparc followed on the list of witnesses. The report of her examination �� so thoroughly had she recovered from the effects of the <a href="http://www.louisvuittonclutchs.com" ;>Louis Vuitton clutch bag</a> dinner of the seventh �� ran to a prodigious length. Five-sixths of it related entirely to her own sensations and suspicions, and the sensations and suspicions of her relatives and friends, after they had risen from the table. As to the point at issue, the point which affected the liberty, and perhaps the life, of her unfortunate servant, she <a href="http://www.louisvuitton-christmas.com&q uot;>Louis Vuitton purses</a> had so little to say that her testimony may be repeated here in her own words:

��The witness (Madame Duparc) deposed, that after Marie had helped Monsieur De Beaulieu to get up, she (Marie) hastened out for the milk, and, on her return with it, prepared the hasty-pudding, took <a href="http://www.michaelkorsoutlettr.net" ;>Michael Kors Purses</a> it herself off the fire, and herself poured it out into the plate �� then left the kitchen to accompany Madame De Beaulieu to mass. Four or five minutes after Monsieur De Beaulieu had eaten the hasty-pudding, he was seized with violent illness.��

Short as it is, this statement contains several distinct suppressions of the truth.

First, Madame Duparc is wrong in stating that Marie fetched the milk, for it was the milk-woman who brought it to the house. Secondly, Madame Duparc conceals the fact that she handed the flour <a href="http://www.michaelkorsoutlet--mk.com&qu ot;>http://www.michaelkorsoutlet--mk.com</a& gt; to the servant to make the hasty-pudding. Thirdly, Madame Duparc does not mention that she held the plate for the pudding to be poured into, and took it to her father. Fourthly, and most important of all, Madame Duparc altogether omits to state that she sprinkled salt, with her own hands, over the hasty-pudding �� although she had expressly <a href="http://www.findcheaperoakleysunglasses. com">find cheaper oakley sunglasses</a> informed her servant, a day or two before, that salt was never to be mixed with it. At a subsequent stage of the proceedings she was charged with having salted the hasty-pudding herself, and she could not, and did not, deny it.

The examination of Madame Duparc ended the business of the day of the eighth. The next morning the <a href="http://www.louisvuittonoutlet-2015.com& quot;>Louis Vuitton Sale</a> Lieutenant-Criminel, as politely attentive as before, returned to resume his inquiry at the private residence of Monsieur Duparc.

The first witness examined on the second day was Mademoiselle Duparc. She carefully followed her mother��s lead �� saying as little as possible about the preparation of the hasty-pudding on the morning of Monday, and as much as possible about the pain <a href="http://www.prada-outlet-onlines.net&quo t;>http://www.prada-outlet-onlines.net</a> ; suffered by everybody after the dinner of Tuesday. Madame Beauguillot, the next witness, added her testimony, as to the state of her own digestive organs, after partaking of the same meal �� speaking at such prodigious length that the poison would appear, in her case, to have produced its principal effect (and that of a stimulating kind) on her <a href="http://www.raybanblackwayfarersunglasse s.com">ray ban wayfarer sunglasses</a> tongue. Her son, Monsieur De Beauguillot, was next examined, quite uselessly in relation to the death by poison, which was the object of inquiry. The last witness was Madame Duparc��s younger son �� the same who had complained of feeling a gritty substance between his teeth at dinner. In one important respect, his evidence flatly contradicted his mother�