ow to die, though I am the victim of ill-fortune, of fatal
circumstance. I shall go to meet my two friends. I am accused of having
treacherously murdered them. There is a Providence above us! If there
is such a thing as an immortal soul, I shall see Hippolyte and Auguste
Ballet again. This is no empty declamation; I don't ask for human pity"
(raising his hands to heaven), "I look to God's mercy, and shall go
joyfully to the scaffold. My conscience is clear. It will not reproach
me even when I feel" (putting his hands to his neck). "Alas! It is
easier to feel what I am feeling than to express what I dare not
express." (In a feeble voice): "You have desired my death; you have it!"
The judges retired to consider the sentence. The candles were guttering,
the light of the lamps was beginning to fade; the aspect of the court
grim and terrible. M. Roussel broke down and burst into tears. Castaing
leant over to his old schoolfellow: "Courage, Roussel," he said; "you
have always believed me innocent, and I am innocent. Embrace for me my
father, my mother, my brothers, my child." He turned to a group of young
advocates standing near: "And you, young people, who have listened to
my trial, attend also my execution; I shall be as firm then as I am now.
All I ask is to die soon. I should be ashamed to plead for mercy." The
judges returned. Castaing was condemned to death, and ordered to pay
100,000 francs damages to the family of Auguste Ballet.

Castaing was not ashamed to appeal to the Court of Cassation for a
revision of his trial, but on December 4 his appeal was rejected. Two
days later he was executed. He had attempted suicide by means of poison,
which one of his friends had brought to him in prison, concealed inside
a watch. His courage failed him at the last, and he met his death in a
state of collapse.

It is not often, happily, that a young man of gentle birth and good
education is a double murderer at twenty-six. And such a soft, humble,
insinuating young man too!--good to his mother, good to his mistress,
fond of his children, kind to his patients.

Yet this gentle creature can deliberately poison his two friends.

Was ever such a contradictory fellow?

Professor Webster

The best report of Webster's trial is that edited by Bemis. The
following tracts in the British Museum have been consulted by the
writer: "Appendix to the Webster Trial," Boston, 1850: "Thoughts on the
Conviction of Webster"; "The Boston Tr