gh Prignon to Lebret, his father's former clerk, who would seem to
have acted as legal and financial adviser to his old master's children.
According to Auguste's story, his sister, Mme. Martignon, had offered
Lebret 80,000 francs to preserve a copy of a will made by Hippolyte,
leaving her the bulk of his fortune. Castaing, however, had ascertained
that Lebret would be willing, if Auguste would outbid his sister and pay
100,000 francs, to destroy the will so that, Hippolyte dying intestate,
Auguste would take the greater part of his brother's fortune. Auguste
agreed to accept Lebret's terms, raised the necessary sum, and handed
over the money to Castaing, who, in turn, gave it to Lebret, who had
thereupon destroyed the copy of the will. Castaing, according to the
evidence of Auguste's mistress, an actress of the name of Percillie,
had spoken in her presence of having himself destroyed one copy of
Hippolyte's will before his death, and admitted having arranged with
Lebret after Hippolyte's death for the destruction of the other copy.

How far was the story told by Auguste, and repeated in somewhat
different shape by Castaing to other persons, true? There is no doubt
that after the visit to the Bank of France with Prignon on October
8, Auguste and Castaing drove together to Lebret's office. The negro
servant said that on arriving there one of them got out of the cab and
went up to Lebret's house, but which of the two he would not at first
say positively. Later he swore that it was Auguste Ballet. Whatever
happened on that visit to Lebret's--and it was the theory of the
prosecution that Castaing and not Auguste had gone up to the office--the
same afternoon Auguste Ballet showed his mistress the seals of the copy
of his brother's will which Lebret had destroyed, and told her that
Lebret, all through the business, had refused to deal directly with him,
and would only act through the intermediary of Castaing.

Did Lebret, as a fact, receive the 100,000 francs? A close examination
of his finances showed no trace of such a sum. Castaing, on the other
hand, on October 10, 1822, had given a stockbroker a sum of 66,000
francs to invest in securities; on the 11th of the same month he had
lent his mother 30,000 francs; and on the 14th had given his mistress
4,000 francs. Of how this large sum of money had come to Castaing at
a time when he was practically insolvent he gave various accounts.
His final version was that in the will dest