of seeing you, maybe, again at a certain place to bid you a last farewell.” Apparently was this only one of the menaces which prevailed among the speech of irritated lovers, and usually is only the sign of a nearing reconciliation. However, people realized that between these two souls associated in the darkest crime, the best harmony has not always prevailed.
The Marquess learned, at the same time, of Saint Croix's death and the sealing of his belongings. The pain over the loss of her lover would be added to the nervousness caused by these parcels. As people will immediately see, the love between these two human beings who must have feared each other, has already for long dampened. And the fatal coffer left her, now, really not any time to think about something else. All the efforts she made to get hold of it, we read from the following eyewitnesses.
Peter Frater, Inspector Picard's scribe, said during the witness hearings that Lady Brinvillier came in the evening, around ten o’clock, in his master's house to speak with him. The scribe has answered to her that his master was already in bed. Then, she demanded that he should announce her to the Inspector, that she wanted to see him, because of the little coffer which was among the sealed belongings of Saint Croix and belonged to her, and which she wanted to claim back, unopened. The Inspector answered to her, through him, that he has already gone to bed; and has asked her to send a man, on the next morning, to pick up the little coffer.
Another witness named Cluet testified: Lady Brinvillier has said that her oldest brother was a good for nothing; if it only depended upon her, she would have already for long had him murdered by two noblemen, as he was still an Intendant in Orleans. She has been kind to Saint Croix only in order to obtain the little coffer from him, and she would have very much, after his death, given fifty golden Louis coins to anyone who could get it for her; she did not want anyone to see its content which was matter of importance only to her. When he told her afterwards that Inspector Picard has affirmed finding specific belongings in the little coffer, she became suddenly red, and has immediately sought to divert the conversation onto something else. He has also taken the freedom to ask her whether or not she did not have any share in the poisonings of which Saint Croix was suspected. She has then answered with visible confusion: “Why me?”.
At the same time, she was extremely ashamed and without knowing what she was talking about, added that she has been with Saint Croix long enough to be entitled to the little coffer, and if she will get it, she would allow her interlocutor to be hanged.
The Marquess saw, soon, distinctively enough, that it was too late to recover the little coffer.
It was in the hands of the authority, and she could not hope that it would be delivered to her without further investigation. Hence, to remove herself from the nearing danger, she resolved to seek her salvation by fleeing. She left suddenly Picpus where she was then staying in the night and fled to Lüttich.
Before she left, she took care still of an administrative procedure to be filed in her name with the seal department. This department reported the following in an affidavit: “Appears before us Alexander LaMare as representative of Lady Mary Margaret of Aubray, Marquess of Brinvillier and affirms that if in a small coffer, a signed letter of promise from a mentioned Marquess of Brinvillier promising a sum of 30 000 Pounds should be found, such a promise was obtained through malice and by surprise from her, and hence, she wished to declare it null and void.”
All these details gave grounds to enough suspicion against the Marquess that she has made common cause with Saint Croix. Only that suspicion were just not sufficient to convince people. At once, however, the judges received a new light through LaChaussée who delivered Justice in their hands through his silliness. He, namely, made objections to the seal department, because of particular claims which he still has to make upon Saint Croix. He claimed that during the seven years which he spent in his service, he has lent him hundreds of Pistols and hundreds of Thalers in silver coins which must be found in a linen purse behind the cabinet window, with Saint Croix's written statement confirming his testimony. People would further find in the same place a cession of 300 Pounds, established to a certain LaSerre, which he has received from the deceased Member of Parliament Aubray, and three receipts from his master, about one hundred Pounds each. He demanded hence these papers as well as his money back.
These precise indications of so many specific details which people found to be correct, allowed to presume that LaChaussée must have a very precise knowledge of what was contained in Saint Croix's cabinet. However, apparently only the most trusted friends had access to the cabinet, and one cannot become the trusted friend of such a human being without sharing his crimes. LaChaussée has, hence, through this step, aroused a strong suspicion against himself, which would still increase very much when he showed a great nervousness when people asked him what kind of discoveries would be made in the parcels.
Lady Villarceau, the widow of the younger civil Lieutenant of Aubray, considered these facts to be strong enough to accuse him unashamedly of her husband's poisoning. A decree for his imprisonment would, hence, be immediately issued. When he was arrested, they found poison with him. The trial began, hence, with the witness hearings. We want only to mention here some of the most remarkable ones from the great deal of eyewitnesses.
Lawrence Perette, an apprentice at Glazer's drugstore declared that he has often seen a lady in company of Saint Croix coming to his master's, whose servant once has said to him that her name was Lady Brinvillier, I would bet my head that she only comes to Glazer's to have him prepare a poison. He added that she ordered her coach, every time she was coming, to stop away from the drugstore.
The second witness was Amanda Huet, the pharmacist's daughter who had free entry at Marquess of Brinvillier's house and often went there. The following is her testimony: “One day, I found myself in the Marquess's anteroom when this one, still totally drunk, precisely came in to dissipate her drunkenness.
In this condition, she was so unsuspecting as to show me a box which she took from her coffer. “Here is something,” she said, “with which one can avenge on his enemies, it is also very efficient for inheritances!” I recognized it as being sublimated mercury, partly powder, partly solid.
When the Marquess awakened again after seven or eight hours, and the effects of wine were gone, I told her what happened. “That was only words spoken in the wind!” she replied, however, recommended me to observe total secrecy about it. Hence, she always made sure that this coffer be kept locked with the most extreme care, and told me to set it immediately into the fire, if she should die. As she once was embarrassed”, continued this witness, “she said that she will poison herself. Another time, as she was irritated against someone, she said: “There are means to kill opponents by the neck, all is needed is putting a bullet in a broth!”. I also very often saw LaChaussée in intimate conversations with the Marquess. “This is, hence, a brave young person,” she said one day to him, while rubbing his cheeks, “He has done a good job for me!”
A young lady, Villeray, testified that she has found LaChaussée in great confidence with the Marquess. After the death of the civil Lieutenant, she has seen both gathered alone, and two days after the death of the Member of Parliament, the Marquess even had to hide him behind her bed, because precisely Mister Cousté, the secretary of the deceased, was announcing his visit to her. LaChaussée himself avowed this detail in his second hearing. He had a letter from Saint Croix, he said, for the Marquess and has been concerned about Mister Cousté finding him, if he did not hide.
Cluet who, as already above mentioned, testified against the Marquess, added: “Even before the two young Lords Aubray's poisoning, he has one day said to Lady Brinvillier: “If the civil Lieutenant knew that LaChaussée has served with Saint Croix, he would have immediately dismissed him!” “My God!” she answered in hurry, “do not say anything to my brothers about it, I believe they would dismiss him from their house; and yet, I would rather see him earn something than serving in another house.”
Other witnesses told that during his master's illness, as LaChaussée was called by him, he has answered the following, using a terrible and despicable nickname which he has given his master: “He is already weak, but gives us still a lot to do, I know not when he will make his last farewell.” And after his death, as he has covered him with a linen, he has said the namely shameful words: “Now, he