time, after taking her to prison,— was the
testimony on which the girl's enemies
mainly relied for substantiating their charges
by positively associating her with the possession
of arsenic.

Let us see what amount of credit can
be attached to the evidence of these three
witnesses.

Lawyer Friley was the first to be examined.
After stating what share he had
taken in bringing Marie to justice (it will be
remembered that he lodged his information
against her at the instance of Madame
Duparc, without allowing her to say a word in
her own defence), he proceeded to depose
that he hunted about the bed on which the
girl had lain down to recover herself,
and that he discovered on the mattress
seven or eight scattered grains of some
substance which resembled the powder reported
to have been found on the crumbs in her
pockets. He added further, that on the next
day, about two hours before the body of
Monsieur de Beaulieu was examined, he
returned to the house; searched under the
bed, with Monsieur Duparc and a soldier
named Cauvin; and found there four or five
grains more of the same substance which he
had discovered on the mattress.

Here were two separate portions of poison
found, then. What did Lawyer Friley do
with them? Did he seal them up immediately
in the presence of witnesses, and take
them to the legal authorities? Nothing of
the sort. On being asked what he did with
the first portion, he replied that he gave it to
young Monsieur Beauguillot. Beauguillot's
evidence was thereupon referred to; and it
was found that he had never mentioned receiving
the packet of powder from Friley.
He had made himself extremely officious in
examining the kitchen utensils; he had been
as anxious as any one to promote the discovery
of arsenic; and when he had the
opportunity of producing it, if Friley were
to be believed, he held it back, and said not
one word about the matter. So much for the
first portion of the mysterious powder, and
for the credibility of Friley's evidence thus
far!

On being questioned as to what he had
done with the second portion, alleged to have
been found under the bed, Friley replied
that he had handed it to the doctors who
opened the body, and that they had tried to
discover what it was, by burning it between
two copper pieces. A witness who had been
present at this proceeding declared, on being
questioned, that the experiment had been
made with some remains of hasty-pudding
scraped out of the saucepan. Here again
was a contradiction, and here, once more,
Friley's evidence was, to say the least of it,
not to be depended on.

Surgeon Hébert followed. What had he
done with the crumbs of bread scattered
over with white powder, which he had found
in Marie's pocket? He had, after showing
them to the company in the drawing-room,
exhibited them next to the apothecary, and
handed them afterwards to another medical
man. Being finally assured that there was
arsenic on the bread, he had sealed up the
crumbs, and given the packet to the legal
authorities. When had he done that? On
the day of his examination as a witness— the
fourteenth of August. When did he find the
crumbs? On the seventh. Here was the
arsenic, in this case, then, passing about
from hand to hand, and not sealed up, for
seven days. Had Surgeon Hébert anything
more to say? Yes, he had another little
lot of arsenic to hand in, which a lady-friend
of his had told him she had found on
Marie's bed, and which, like the first lot, had
been passed about privately for seven days,
from hand to hand, before it was sealed up.
To us, in these later and better days, it
seems hardly credible that the judge should
have admitted these two packets in evidence.
It is, nevertheless, the disgraceful fact that
he did so receive them.

Commissary Bertot came next. He and
the man named Vassol, who had helped him
to entrap Marie into prison, and to search
her before she was placed in solitary confinement,
were examined in succession, and
contradicted each other on oath, in the
flattest manner. Bertot stated that he had
discovered the dust at the bottom of her
pockets, had shaken it out on paper; had
placed with it the little linen bag, containing
a morsel of the sacramental wafer, which
had been sewn to her petticoat; had sealed
the two up in one packet; and had taken
the packet to the proper office. Vassol, on
the other hand, swore that he had shaken
out the pockets, and had made up the packet;
and that Bertothad done nothing in the matter
but lend his seal. Contradicting each other
in these details, both agreed that what they
had found on the girl was inclosed and
sealed up in one packet, which they had
left at the office, neglecting to take such a
receipt for it as might have established its
identity in writing. At this stage of the
proceedings the packet was sent for. Three
packets appeared instead of one! Two
were composed of paper, and contained
dust and a little white powder. The third
was the linen bag, presented without any
covering at all. Vassol, bewildered by the
change, declared that of these three separate
objects, he could only identify one— the linen
bag. In this case, it was as clear as daylight
that somebody must have tampered with
the single sealed packet which Bertot and
Vassol swore to having left at the office.
No attempt, however, was made to investigate
this circumstance; and the case for the
prosecution— so far as the accusation of
poisoning was concerned— closed with the
examination of Bertot and Vassol.

Such was the evidence produced in support