some other bags of smaller size, among which
one was addressed "To Monsieur the Abbé
Poulard." The box contained also a large
purse that was entirely empty, and an
escritoire in red morocco, gilt, upon which lay a
half louis, and within which, under a false
bottom, Madame Mazel kept fifteen thousand
livres worth of jewels. Finally, in the pockets
of the dress madame had last worn, there
were found eighteen pistoles in gold.

Every act and word of his that we have
detailed was at once held to point suspicion
to Le Brun. At least, thought the criminal-
lieutenant, who occupied the place of our
detective,—he may be a party to the murder,
if not the actual perpetrator of the crime.
The leaving of the coach-house door open,
during a midnight sleep, was an especially
suggestive circumstance. Le Brun and his
wife were both arrested, and confined in
separate cells.

It is unnecessary to say that all moral
probability was against the notion that Le Brun,
for twenty-nine years honoured as a pattern
steward, should have been the author of the
crime. He drew profit from the life of his
mistress. Madame Chapelain had reason
enough to wish her dead ; still more reason
had Madame Réné de Savonnières ; and then
there was the Abbé Poulard, a priest of bad
character, who had a house-key to himself,
and whose bed-room communicated by the
private stair with the alcove in the chamber
of madame. Of him no questions were asked,
though ten hours were occupied in questioning
the servants of the house. The Abbé
Poulard went about the town, affirming
Le Brum's guilt, and adding fabulous particulars
as to the manner of it. He had admitted
to his mistress the discharged footman, Berry ;
and Berry had demanded of madame that she
should recognise him as her son. Upon that
she seized him by the throat in a frenzy of
rage, and Berry used the poinard in self-
defence. The story found believers, who had
not wit to put to themselves or their informant
the most obvious question—How had Monsieur
the Abbé come by so much information ?

Additional evidence, capable of use against
the offender, had come into the hands of
justice. The remains of a pocket-knife had
been found in the ashes, on the hearth of
madame's bed-chamber. A rope-ladder had
been found, also ; and a shirt, stained with
blood, and bearing the marks of bloody
fingers, had been taken from under a bundle
of straw in the loft. A few hairs, torn from
the head of the murderer were drawn from
the grasp of the dead body. Barbers
pronounced these to be too few to enable them
to assert whether or not they had been torn
from the head of Jacques Le Brun. The
napkin rolled into a cap, which lay upon the
bed, was too small for Le Brun ; and I should
say that the old man's hands were examined,
and found to be free from all trace of their
having been imbrued in blood. It was
observed that if the assassin had entered by
either of the secret doors, he could not have
passed out by them, because they were bolted
from within. Nothing, however, hindered
him from passing out by the door leading
into the antechamber; and it was proved
that the mere jar, caused by his closing it
after him, might be enough to push the inner
bolt a little forward.

On the fourteenth of January, sixteen hundred
and ninety, the Counsellor M. Réné de
Savonnières petitioned the criminal-lieutenant,
in the name of his brother and himself,
for a declaration, "that Le Brun was attainted
and convicted of having killed and massacred
the lady Mazel, his mistress, and of having
robbed from her the gold contained in the
purse found empty at the bottom of the
strong-box, with the exception of the half-
louis found upon the escritoir."

Barbier d'Aucourt, a celebrated advocate,
was charged with Le Brun's defence. He
urged the many points which tended to direct
suspicion against others. The cook, not long
before the murder, had moved her bed to a
room on the ground-floor, from which it was
possible for her to admit whom she would
into the house. The footmen were youths,
not likely to strike home ; and the victim was
found slain by fifty thrusts upon neck, face,
arms, and breast, not one of them mortal.
Then there was the Abbé Poulard, a monk of
bad repute, more open than any other person
to suspicion. D'Aucourt urged such points,
and, of course, displayed with all his skill the
weakness of the case against Le Brun. The
advocate was, moreover, possessed by an idea
of his own, namely, that the discharged footman,
Berry, could throw light upon the case
if he were once confronted with the prisoner.
He insisted that this man should be sought
and arrested ; but his place of abode being
unknown, he was not found.

On Wednesday, the twenty-second of
February, a decision on the case was arrived at,
by a court of two-and-twenty judges. Two
only confirmed the accusation, four desired
time for further information, and the other
sixteen formed the majority, by whom it was
decreed that Jacques Le Brun should be put
to the provisory question ordinary and extra-
ordinary. In obedience to this order, M.
Jean le Nain, an honest magistrate, accompanied
by M. Fraguier, a counsellor, superintended
the application of the torture to the
poor old steward. Le Brun bore the ordeal
like a brave man and a Christian, sought no
temporary relief by self-accusation, and not
only maintained his own innocence, but would
allow no word to be wrung from him that
tended to shift suspicion upon the family of
his mistress, or to reflect in any degree upon
her reputation. He was acquainted with
intrigues and quarrels, that, if known, would
have strengthened the case as against other
persons ; but he knew what was due to the
honour of his calling as a faithful major-domo.