her
husband, showing how deeply she must have mortified and enraged him.

A charge very clearly made out against Peytel, is that of dishonesty; he
procured from the notary of whom he bought his place an acquittance in
full, whereas there were 15,000 francs owing, as we have seen. He
also, in the contract of marriage, which was to have resembled, in
all respects, that between Monsieur Broussais and another Demoiselle
Alcazar, caused an alteration to be made in his favor, which gave
him command over his wife's funded property, without furnishing
the guarantees by which the other son-in-law was bound. And, almost
immediately after his marriage, Peytel sold out of the funds a sum
of 50,000 francs, that belonged to his wife, and used it for his own
purposes.

About two months after his marriage, PEYTEL PRESSED HIS WIFE TO MAKE HER
WILL. He had made his, he said, leaving everything to her, in case of
his death: after some parley, the poor thing consented.* This is a cruel
suspicion against him; and Mr. Substitute has no need to enlarge upon
it. As for the previous fact, the dishonest statement about the 15,000
francs, there is nothing murderous in that--nothing which a man very
eager to make a good marriage might not do. The same may be said of the
suppression, in Peytel's marriage contract, of the clause to be found
in Broussais's, placing restrictions upon the use of the wife's money.
Mademoiselle d'Alcazar's friends read the contract before they signed
it, and might have refused it, had they so pleased.

* "Peytel," says the act of accusation, "did not fail to see
the danger which would menace him, if this will (which had
escaped the magistrates in their search of Peytel's papers)
was discovered. He, therefore, instructed his agent to take
possession of it, which he did, and the fact was not
mentioned for several months afterwards. Peytel and his
agent were called upon to explain the circumstance, but
refused, and their silence for a long time interrupted the
'instruction'" (getting up of the evidence). "All that could
be obtained from them was an avowal, that such a will
existed, constituting Peytel his wife's sole legatee; and a
promise, on their parts, to produce it before the court gave
its sentence." But why keep the will secret? The anxiety
about it was surely absurd and unnecessary: the whole of
Madame Peytel's family knew that such a wi