第46章 ARSENIC A LA BRETONNE(3)

In March 1848 Helene was in Rennes.On the 6th of November of the following year, having been dismissed from several houses for theft, she became sole domestic servant to a married couple called Rabot.Their son, Albert, who was already ill, died in the end of December.He had eaten a farina porridge cooked by Helene.In the following February, having discovered Helene's depredations from the wine-cupboard, M.Rabot gave her notice.This was on the 3rd of the month.(Helene was to leave on the 13th.) The next day Mme Rabot and Rabot himself, having taken soup of Helene's making, became very ill.Rabot's mother- in-law ate a panade prepared by Helene.She too fell ill.They all recovered after Helene had departed, but Rabot, like M.Dupuy-de-Lome, was partially paralysed for months afterwards.

In Helene's next situation, with people called Ozanne, her way of abstracting liquor again was noticed.She was chided for stealing eau de vie.Soon after that the Ozannes' little son died suddenly, very suddenly.The doctor called in thought it was from a croup fever.

On the day following the death of the little Ozanne Helene entered the service of M.Roussell, proprietor of the Bout-du-Monde hotel in Rennes.Some six weeks later Roussell's mother suddenly became ill.She had had occasion to reproach Helene for sullen ill-manners or something of that sort.She ate some potage which Helene had cooked.The illness that ensued lasted a long time.Eighteen months later the old lady had hardly recovered.

In the hotel with Helene as fellow-servant there was a woman of thirty, Perrotte Mace, very greatly relied upon by her masters, with whom she had been five years.She was a strongly built woman who carried herselffinely.Perrotte openly agreed with the Veuve Roussell regarding Helene's behaviour.This, with the confidence reposed in Perrotte by the Roussells, might have been enough to set Helene against her.But there was an additional cause for jealousy: Jean Andre, the hotel ostler, but also described as a cabinet-maker, though friendly enough with Helene, showed a marked preference for the younger, and comelier, Perrotte.The Veuve Roussell fell ill in the middle of June.In August Perrotte was seized by a similar malady, and, in spite of all her resistance, had to take to her bed.Vomiting and purging marked the course of her illness, pains in the stomach and limbs, distension of the abdomen, and swelling of the feet.With her strong constitution she put up a hard fight for her life, but succumbed on the 1st of September, 1850.The doctors called in, MM.Vincent and Guyot, were extremely puzzled by the course of the illness.At times the girl would seem to be on the mend, then there would come a sudden relapse.After Perrotte's death they pressed for an autopsy, but the peasant relatives of the girl showed the usual repugnance of their class to the idea.Helene was taken red-handed in the theft of wine, and was dismissed.Fifteen days later she took service with the Bidards.

These are the salient facts of Helene's progression from 1833 to 1851 as brought out by the investigations made by and for the Procureur- General of Rennes.All possible channels were explored to discover where Helene had procured the arsenic, but without success.Under examination by the Juge d'instruction she stoutly denied all knowledge of the poison.I don't know anything about arsenic--don't know what it is,'' she repeated.No witness can say I ever had any.'' It was believed that she had secured a large supply in her early days, and had carried it with her through the years, but that at the first definite word of suspicion against her had got rid of it.During her trial mention was made of packets found in a chest she had used while at Locsine, the place where seven deaths had occurred.But it was never clearly established that these packets had contained arsenic.It was never clearly established, though it could be inferred, that Helene ever had arsenic at all.

The first hearings of Helene's case were taken before the Juge d'instruction in Rennes, and she was remanded to the assizes for Ille-et- Vilaine, which took place, apparently, in the same city.The charges against her were limited to eleven thefts, three murders by poisoning, and three attempts at murder by the like means.Under the prescription legale twenty-three poisonings, six attempts at poisoning, and a number of thefts, all of which had taken place within the space of ten years, had to be left out of the indictment.We shall see, however, that, under the curious rules regarding permissible evidence which prevail in French criminal law, the Assize Court concerned itself quite largely with this prescribed matter.

The trial began on the 6th of December, 1851, at a time when France was in a political uproar--or, more justly perhaps, was settling down from political uproar.The famous coup d'etat of that year had happened four days before.Maitre Dorange, defending Helene, asked for a remand to a later session on the ground that some of his material witnesses were unavailable owing to the political situation.An eminent doctor, M.Baudin, had died pour maintien des lois.'' There was some argument on the matter, but the President ruled that all material witnesses were present.Scientific experts could be called only to assist the court.

The business of this first day was taken up almost completely by questions on the facts produced in investigation, and these mostly facts covered by the prescription.The legal value of this run of questions would seem doubtful in the Anglo-Saxon idea of justice, but it gives an indication of the shiftiness in answer of the accused.It was a long interrogation, but Helene faced it with notable self-possession.On occasion she answered with vigour, but in general sombrely and with lowered eyes.At times she broke into volubility.This did not serve to remove the impression of shiftiness, for her answers were seldom to the point.