ed for the autopsy
of his patient's brother. For the younger brother seemed to have been
attacked by the same complaint, and the doctor hoped to find from the
death of the one some means for preserving the life of the other. The
councillor was in a violent fever, agitated unceasingly both in body and
mind: he could not bear any position of any kind for more than a few
minutes at a time. Bed was a place of torture; but if he got up, he
cried for it again, at least for a change of suffering. At the end of
three months he died. His stomach, duodenum, and liver were all in the
same corrupt state as his brother's, and more than that, the surface of
his body was burnt away. This, said the doctors; was no dubious sign of
poisoning; although, they added, it sometimes happened that a 'cacochyme'
produced the same effect. Lachaussee was so far from being suspected,
that the councillor, in recognition of the care he had bestowed on him in
his last illness, left him in his will a legacy of a hundred crowns;
moreover, he received a thousand francs from Sainte-Croix and the
marquise.

So great a disaster in one family, however, was not only sad but
alarming. Death knows no hatred: death is deaf and blind, nothing more,
and astonishment was felt at this ruthless destruction of all who bore
one name. Still nobody suspected the true culprits, search was
fruitless, inquiries led nowhere: the marquise put on mourning for her
brothers, Sainte-Croix continued in his path of folly, and all things
went on as before. Meanwhile Sainte-Croix had made the acquaintance of
the Sieur de Saint Laurent, the same man from whom Penautier had asked
for a post without success, and had made friends with him. Penautier had
meanwhile become the heir of his father-in-law, the Sieur Lesecq, whose
death had most unexpectedly occurred; he had thereby gained a second post
in Languedoc and an immense property: still, he coveted the place of
receiver of the clergy. Chance now once more helped him: a few days after
taking over from Sainte-Croix a man-servant named George, M. de
Saint-Laurent fell sick, and his illness showed symptoms similar to those
observed in the case of the d'Aubrays, father and sons; but it was more
rapid, lasting only twenty-four hours. Like them, M. de Saint-Laurent
died a prey to frightful tortures. The same day an officer from the
sovereign's court came to see him, heard every detail connected with his
friend's death, and when