My Memoirs Part 20

_Question._ "Since your last interrogation, a number of letters have been handed to us: twenty-four letters from your mother to your brother Julien, dated from January 4th, 1908, to May 30th, 1908. Those letters, _on the whole_, tally with your statements, especially as regards your illness at the beginning of 1908, the plans for your brother's marriage, and the intention to help him by calling on M. Dennery, and the fact that you called in Dr. Acheray to see your mother on the morning of May 30th. On the other hand, they contain remarks which contradict certain of your statements. For instance, on May 19th your mother wrote to your brother that during her forthcoming stay in Paris she would put up at M.

Herr's, but the following day she mentioned that you had written and 'phoned to her, with the result that she would put up at your house for one night at least. This proves that your mother only decided to put up at the house in the Impa.s.se Ronsin after you had pressed her?"

_Answer._ "I can only tell you that when my mother was staying with me, at the beginning of May, it was agreed between us that she would put up at my house when she returned to Paris later on. Towards May 20th she wrote to me that she felt very ill, and at the same time gave me to understand that, yielding to Mme. Herr's wishes, she would put up at her house. I told her that if she came to me I would nurse her and that she would be attended by an excellent doctor--M. Acheray, who lived almost next door to us. I added that matters would be easier as regarded the call on M. Dennery if she were staying with me. I very much wanted to have my mother at home because at my sister's house she would have to climb five flights of stairs, and, further, because I wished Dr. Acheray to examine her, as he knew her well, having on other occasions acted as her doctor."

_Question._ "In any case, there is a most striking coincidence here. It is just about May 18th--that is, at the time when you settled down at Bellevue with the young Buissons, who seem to need your permanent presence at the time when your Paris home is disorganised--that you compel your mother to promise to stay with you during the forthcoming visit!"

_Answer._ "The Buisson children were not so ill that I had to be constantly near them at Vert-Logis. The main object in having them at Bellevue was that they should enjoy the fresh air of the country; and when I was away my daughter was perfectly capable of looking after them.

As for my Paris home, how could it be 'disorganised' when my husband, my daughter and myself were there frequently!"

_In reply to a Question._ "When, on the Sat.u.r.day, May 30th, I returned from Bellevue, I stopped, as I have said, at the chemist's to fetch the various medicines Dr. Acheray had prescribed for my mother. At Potin's I bought a lobster, a pot of mayonnaise sauce, some cakes and some fruit.

Then I walked straight home. My husband and I ate lobster, but my mother ate only a bit of it; she preferred coffee and milk and a slice of b.u.t.tered toast. At Vert-Logis that evening my daughter Marthe was alone with the two little Buissons and Mariette, the old cook. The children usually went to bed at nine, and Mariette, as a rule, retired afterwards. But that night she had of course to await M. Buisson's arrival.

"At the Impa.s.se Ronsin we dined that day at 7.30. Before dinner my mother and I had had a long chat about family affairs and plans, whilst my husband remained in his studio. The dinner was merry. My husband was unusually cheerful and content. He talked about various schemes to improve matters at the Boulogne Ceramics Company, and said he would go to Italy to copy some old _faience_. My husband drank some wine and water. After dinner none of us took any liqueurs. I went round the garden with my husband, and then we joined my mother, who was resting in the verandah. She suffered more and more in her legs; I took her shoes and stockings off and rubbed her with some vaseline. Towards 9 P.M. we all three went upstairs to bed. Before that, my husband had locked the doors--or rather the door, for he had only to close the verandah door.

The door of the pantry, which it was the valet's duty to close, must, I suppose, have been closed by Couillard after we had retired. At the time when we went upstairs Couillard was was.h.i.+ng up.

"According to the rule in force whenever we were at home, and which he had observed the previous night, Couillard was to sleep in his room on the third floor, near the attic. I supposed that, also according to custom, he had already handed back the revolver to my husband on the previous day (May 29th). But, after the drama, during the judicial investigation, I found that Couillard had not returned the revolver, for when questioned by M. Hamard (Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department) about the revolver, he, in my sight, took it from the pocket of his blue ap.r.o.n. I had told M. Hamard that my husband usually kept his revolver by him in his room, in the drawer of his bedside table, and it was because M. Hamard had been unable to find it that he had been led to ask Couillard some questions about it."

_In reply to a Question._ "I don't know at what time Remy Couillard went to bed on the 30th May. That night my husband occupied his own bedroom.

I was in my daughter's room, for I had given my bedroom to my mother so that she might be more comfortable, my daughter's bed being smaller than mine and my mother a little stout. Besides, whenever my mother stayed with us she occupied my bedroom. She slept in my daughter's room only when I was seriously ill in bed--in 1907 and 1908."

[Ill.u.s.tration: A VIEW OF THE VERANDA OF THE HOUSE IN THE IMPa.s.sE RONSIN]

_In reply to a Question._ "On May 30th, my mother herself placed my rings, as we went to bed, in her room (my bed-room). I had taken them off downstairs on the verandah, when I rubbed my mother with vaseline.

Just as we went upstairs, my husband told Couillard to bring up some 'grogs.'"

_Question._ "Was it a habit in your house to take 'grogs' at night?"

_Answer._ "No, it was not a habit. When I was tired, I took some hot water with rum, and in the evening of May 30th I was very tired. After dinner, when we chatted on the verandah, I had said I would drink a hot 'grog' before going to bed, and my husband and my mother said they would do the same. That was why my husband or I told Couillard to bring up some hot water, sugar, the bottle of rum, and three gla.s.ses. Why didn't we drink the 'grogs' downstairs? Because I wanted my mother to take hers while in bed. Remy Couillard came up with a tray which he placed on a small table in the bath-room, and then he withdrew. When Remy brought the tray, I was in the bath-room; my mother was in her room and already in bed. My husband was in his room, but not yet in bed. I called him. He put water and sugar in two gla.s.ses and I poured out the rum. Then my husband and I went together to my mother. She drank a little and placed the gla.s.s back on her bedside table. Before taking the 'grog' to my mother, I tasted the one my husband had prepared for himself. I thought it was too strong, and my husband added some hot water."

_Question._ "It was you who wanted a 'grog,' and now I find that no 'grog' was prepared for you, and of your husband's grog you only had a sip!"

(My counsel explained to me afterwards that the judge's idea was that I had put poison or some sleeping draught in those two grogs!)

_Answer._ "I intended preparing mine a little later, just as I was about to get into bed, so as to drink it quite hot. As a matter of fact, when I was in bed, I called my husband and he brought me my grog. He made me drink, then placed the gla.s.s--I don't remember where.

"After my mother had emptied her gla.s.s, I had sat down on her bed and we had chatted for a quarter of an hour. But as she and I were very tired and sleepy, I went to my room, and I was in bed when my husband brought me the grog."

_Question._ "Couillard has stated that your husband was already in bed when he brought up the tray. He saw that through the door of your husband's room, which was open."

_Answer._ "Couillard made a mistake. Besides, how could he have seen my husband in bed! There was no light in my husband's room."

_Question._ "There was a light in the bath-room where the valet placed the tray, and since the door of the bedroom was open, that bedroom must have been light enough."

_Answer._ "No, for the gas in the bath-room was only half turned on."

_In reply to a Question._ "At the end of my chat with my mother, I kissed her and said: 'Till to-morrow!' And when my husband brought me the grog, I bade him good-night and asked him to leave the door open, so that, if my mother felt ill during the night, she might easily be heard by us, I was dead tired and went to sleep almost at once."

_Question._ "Describe what you know of the crime."

_Answer._ "I started up out of my sleep, and felt something on my face.

I then heard a man's voice saying: 'Tell us where your parents' money is....' Now, before I go any further, I would like to say that I cannot promise you to describe that terrible night in exactly the same words as I used when I described it on May 31st, a few hours after the crime....

I pulled the cloth off my head and face. There was a light in the room, and I saw three men and a woman: a dark man standing near me; a dark man by the door of the boudoir; a red-bearded man on the other side, that is, near the mantelpiece, and a red-haired woman near my bed.

"They repeated: 'Where is your parents' money?' Frightened, trembling, and seeing that the woman was pointing a revolver at my right temple, I said 'There'... and pointed to the boudoir; the woman remained near me, still holding the revolver against my head, and with her other hand she held my arm tightly.... I was terrified... I heard my mother cry out to me 'Meg, Meg!'... That gave me a little courage. Then the woman said, 'Come on, girl, be good. Tell us where the jewels are.' I was afraid to say they were in my mother's room (really my room), in the drawer of the wardrobe.... I said to them all 'Don't kill me! Say you won't kill any one....' Then they bound me and put a cloth on my face.... And that is all. I don't remember anything else...."

_Question._ "Have you really no other recollections?"

_Answer._ "I remember the appearance of those people. They had lanterns.... The man near the chimney had one, also the man near my bed.

The man near the door of the boudoir held a revolver.... After they had bound me to the bed, one man climbed on me, stood on my body, and hurt me terribly. I could not cry because I was already gagged. They bound my hands.... At a certain moment, I don't remember when, I heard the twelve strokes of midnight.... I say midnight, but it was perhaps eleven o'clock. There were many, many strokes, that is all I can say. It was the big grandfather's clock in the hall... on the ground floor."

_Question._ "And that is all?"

_Answer._ "I can tell you what those people were like. The man near me had a long black beard. He was very pale, had dark eyes and a big nose.

The man near the boudoir was also very dark, and his eyes were terrible.

The one with the red beard looked rather stupid, bewildered, scared....

As for the red-haired woman, she was fearfully ugly, had black eyes, frizzy hair and a wicked mouth."

_Question._ "Is that all?"

_Answer._ "That is all I remember now."

_Question._ "What else?"

_Answer._ "Oh! their clothes, of course! They all wore long black gowns, even the woman. M. Hamard asked me if they wore smocks or ecclesiastical habits, gaberdines. I said the sleeves were flat, and the gowns were long, straight, all one piece, as it were. I saw no collars, no hands, only those black gaberdines... and then, the light of their lanterns dazzled me, and there were all those looking-gla.s.ses in the room, Marthe's room... and it all went so rapidly... I also received a blow on my head. It came from the side where the woman stood, but I could not tell if it was the woman that struck the blow.... I also heard a voice say: 'Finish her off!' They spoke.... One man said: 'No, leave the girl (_la pet.i.te_) alone. It was the woman who wanted to kill me.'"

_Question._ "Which of the men was it who spared you?"

_Answer._ "I don't know. My head was covered at the time. The man had a foreign accent. He had spoken before.... It was the man who had said: 'Tell us where your parents' money is.'"

_In reply to a Question._ "I felt them seize both my hands. They fastened them above and behind my head to the bars of the bed.... They bound my hands, separately, that is, my arms apart.... I felt a rope round my neck and there was a cloth on my head. They also bound my feet.

I did not feel them bind me round the body; it was later on that I heard I had been bound round the body."

_Question._ "Did the ropes with which your hands were tied hurt you?"

_Answer._. "My hands were not tightly bound. They did not hurt me mch."

_Question._ "Did the rope round the neck hurt?"

_Answer._ "No... I don't know. I was terrified. I thought that I had been blinded, that I was dead, that it was all over...."

_Question._ "Did the ropes round your feet hurt you?"

_Answer._ "Yes, very much. But I did not feel it at the time. It was only when I came back to my senses several times, and that was terrible."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BED ON WHICH I WAS BOUND DURING THE "FATAL NIGHT."]

_In reply to a Question._ "They gagged me with cottonwool, but I don't remember at what precise moment. The cottonwool was forced down my mouth. It nearly choked me and I thought I was dying. When I came back to my senses, I had an awful sensation of agony. I was stifling... I moved my arms, but felt that by doing so I was strangling myself; I felt that when I moved my arms either to the right or to the left, they acted upon the rope round my neck and I felt then a terrible pressure on my throat.... But when I did not move at all, the rope round my neck did not hurt. The cottonwool made breathing almost impossible. So I began to push it forward with my tongue. It was very difficult to remove the gag... I moved my tongue; I moved my jaw... I turned and twisted the cottonwool in my mouth and it was a long time before I could remove it.

I even think I had not got rid of it all when the ropes were cut. The ropes round my hands were cut by Remy Couillard, I believe. Whilst I moved the wadding with my tongue, my mouth was quite dry... I breathed as best I could.... No, I don't know whether I breathed with my nose only. I cannot remember things quite clearly. I came back to my senses several times, but it was only at daybreak, when I recovered a little, that I was able to remove the gag...."