第66章 THE MERRY WIDOWS(9)

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 ofMme 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 inthe 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.''