accident, you understand,--of a mistake,--but
whether accident or mistake, the fact is there; it is on my conscience
and compels me to speak aloud to you. Make inquiry."

"Of whom?--how?--of what?"

"May not Barrois, the old servant, have made a mistake, and have given
Madame de Saint-Meran a dose prepared for his master?"

"For my father?"

"Yes."

"But how could a dose prepared for M. Noirtier poison Madame de
Saint-Meran?"

"Nothing is more simple. You know poisons become remedies in certain
diseases, of which paralysis is one. For instance, having tried every
other remedy to restore movement and speech to M. Noirtier, I resolved
to try one last means, and for three months I have been giving him
brucine; so that in the last dose I ordered for him there were six
grains. This quantity, which is perfectly safe to administer to the
paralyzed frame of M. Noirtier, which has become gradually accustomed to
it, would be sufficient to kill another person."

"My dear doctor, there is no communication between M. Noirtier's
apartment and that of Madame de Saint-Meran, and Barrois never entered
my mother-in-law's room. In short, doctor although I know you to be the
most conscientious man in the world, and although I place the utmost
reliance in you, I want, notwithstanding my conviction, to believe this
axiom, errare humanum est."

"Is there one of my brethren in whom you have equal confidence with
myself?"

"Why do you ask me that?--what do you wish?"

"Send for him; I will tell him what I have seen, and we will consult
together, and examine the body."

"And you will find traces of poison?"

"No, I did not say of poison, but we can prove what was the state of the
body; we shall discover the cause of her sudden death, and we shall say,
'Dear Villefort, if this thing has been caused by negligence, watch over
your servants; if from hatred, watch your enemies.'"

"What do you propose to me, d'Avrigny?" said Villefort in despair; "so
soon as another is admitted into our secret, an inquest will become
necessary; and an inquest in my house--impossible! Still," continued the
procureur, looking at the doctor with uneasiness, "if you wish it--if
you demand it, why then it shall be done. But, doctor, you see me
already so grieved--how can I introduce into my house so much scandal,
after so much sorrow? My wife and my daughter would die of it! And I,
doctor--you know a man does not arrive at the post I occupy--one has
not