friend of Castaing, who had come to his shop and asked him for it a few
days after Ballet's death. It would seem therefore that there had
been two bottles of medicine, one of which containing morphia had
disappeared.

M. Roussel combatted the suggestion that the family of Castaing were in
a state of indigence. He showed that his father had an income of 10,000
francs, while his two brothers were holding good positions, one as an
officer in the army, the other as a government official. The mistress
of Castaing he represented as enjoying an income of 5,000 francs.
He protested against the quantity of hearsay evidence that had been
admitted into the case. "In England," he said, "when a witness is
called, he is asked 'What have you seen?' If he can only testify to mere
talk, and hearsay, he is not heard." He quoted the concluding paragraph
of the will of Auguste Ballet as showing his friendly feeling towards
Castaing: "It is only after careful reflection that I have made
this final disposition of my property, in order to mark the sincere
friendship which I have never for one moment ceased to feel for MM.
Castaing, Briant and Leuchere, in order to recognise the faithful
loyalty of my servants, and deprive M. and Mme. Martignon, my
brother-in-law and sister, of all rights to which they might be legally
entitled on my death, fully persuaded in soul and conscience that, in
doing so, I am giving to each their just and proper due." "Is this,"
asked M. Roussel, "a document wrested by surprise from a weak man,
extorted by trickery? Is he not acting in the full exercise of his
faculties? He forgets no one, and justifies his conduct."

When M. Roussel came to the incident of the noisy cats and dogs at Saint
Cloud, he was as ingenious as the circumstances permitted: "A serious
charge engrosses public attention; men's minds are concentrated on
the large, broad aspects of the case; they are in a state of unnatural
excitement. They see only the greatness, the solemnity of the
accusation, and then, suddenly, in the midst of all that is of such
tragic and surpassing interest, comes this trivial fact about cats and
dogs. It makes an unfavourable impression, because it is dramatically
out of keeping with the tragedy of the story. But we are not here to
construct a drama. No, gentlemen, look at it merely as a trivial
incident of ordinary, everyday life, and you will see it in its proper
light." M. Roussel concluded by saying that Castaing's m