sincere sorrow and pious
demeanour of the young doctor. About mid-day on Sunday, June 1, Auguste
Ballet died.

During the afternoon Castaing left the hotel for some hours, and that
same afternoon a young man about twenty-five years of age, short and
fair, left a letter at the house of Malassis. The letter was from
Castaing and said, "My dear friend, Ballet has just died, but do nothing
before to-morrow, Monday. I will see you and tell you, yes or no,
whether it is time to act. I expect that his brother-in-law, M.
Martignon, whose face is pock-marked and who carries a decoration, will
call and see you. I have said that I did not know what dispositions
Ballet may have made, but that before his death he had told me to give
you two little keys which I am going to deliver to you myself to-morrow,
Monday. I have not said that we are cousins, but only that I had seen
you once or twice at Ballet's, with whom you were friendly. So say
nothing till I have seen you, but whatever you do, don't say you are
a relative of mine." When he returned to the hotel Castaing found
Martignon, Lebret, and one or two friends of Auguste already assembled.
It was only that morning that Martignon had received from Castaing any
intimation of his brother-in-law's critical condition. From the first
Castaing was regarded with suspicion; the nature of the illness, the
secrecy maintained about it by Castaing, the coincidence of some of
the circumstances with those of the death of Hippolyte, all combined to
excite suspicion. Asked if Auguste had left a will Castaing said no;
but the next day he admitted its existence, and said that it was in the
hands of Malassis.

Monday, June 2, was the day fixed for the post-mortem; it was performed
in the hotel at Saint Cloud. Castaing was still in the hotel under
provisional arrest. While the post-mortem was going on his agitation was
extreme; he kept opening the door of the room in which he was confined,
to hear if possible some news of the result. At last M. Pelletan
obtained permission to inform him of the verdict of the doctors. It was
favourable to Castaing; no trace of death by violence or poison had been
discovered.

The medical men declared death to be due to an inflammation of
the stomach, which could be attributed to natural causes; that the
inflammation had subsided; that it had been succeeded by cerebral
inflammation, which frequently follows inflammation of the stomach,
and may have been aggravated i