My Memoirs Part 51

_Answer._ "On account of my daughter. I wished to keep silent about the origin, that is, the giver, of those pearls."

_Question._ "By mentioning their disappearance, nothing compelled you to indicate their origin?"

_Answer._ "I did not wish to speak about that necklace"....

(_Dossier_ Cote 3310)

Once again M. Andre did not insist.

During another _Instruction_, one month later (_Dossier_ Cote 3389), M.

Andre tried to make me contradict myself about the necklace, stating that one of my accounts of the occasion when M. Brun consented to pledge jewels for my husband did not tally with another; he also remarked that my friend M. Mustel, the piano and organ manufacturer, who had seen the famous pearls, had described, in quite a different way from that in which I had described it, a family scene, at my house, about certain debts of my mother's which I was ready to pay by selling the pearls I still possessed. But all this had but a very vague connection with the necklace itself. I may further state that M. Brun stated that he received only about 6 for the necklace he pledged, so that either he referred to a necklace of which I know nothing, or he made a huge mistake. At any rate, I do not know of necklaces with five rows of pearls that would merely fetch 6 when pledged!

I may quote a few lines from M. Brun's evidence:

"M. Steinheil asked me... to pledge at the Mont-de-Piete a pearl necklace of several rows... On the same day, at the office in the Rue des Blancs-Manteaux, I pledged the necklace, in my name, and received, I believe, 150 francs (6)."

(_Dossier_ Cote 1929)

Now, as every one knows, the Mont-de-Piete is a State Inst.i.tution, and its books are kept in the same thorough and methodical manner as that of all other State "Administrations." The Mont-de-Piete, in reply to inquiries ordered by M. Andre replied that:

"... The pledging of a pearl necklace (whether by the Steinheils or by M. Brun) was not mentioned in their books..."

(_Dossier_ Cote 1919)

The pearls were not mentioned in the final report of M. Andre, nor in the Indictment, nor were they once referred to at my trial. Can any one blame me if I say I have always thought that "the authorities" _knew_ about the necklace but _did not want_ that mystery to be unravelled, no more than they wanted to know that some of the jewels stolen on the night of the crime came from a President, and two, at least, from an Attorney-General. I have also always thought that "the authorities" knew that I possessed important doc.u.ments and the Memoirs of Felix Faure.

True, by order, I never spoke of them except to M. Desmoulin, the Director of the Prison, my counsel, and Pastor Arboux--and I just p.r.o.nounced the word "doc.u.ments" before M. Leydet and M. Hamard--but whether the authorities knew about them or not, I can only say that no mention of them was made to me.

At Saint-Lazare, one day--at the time of that long and nerve-racking _Instruction_--two munic.i.p.al guards came to take me to the Palace of Justice.

I said to the gaoler: "Where are 'my' inspectors?"

"Madame," the man replied, "it is no longer M. Hamard who sends for you, but M. Andre, the judge, and M. Andre, it seems, has given new instructions."

The non-commissioned officer very politely made me enter a _fiacre_ (a four-wheeled cab). He then sat down near me, and the other soldier sat opposite me. Both had revolvers at their side. The carriage started on its journey.

"Why have not the inspectors come, as usual?" I asked.

"Ah! Madame, we don't know.... Your judge doesn't seem to like you."...

"I hope not; I cannot believe that."...

As we neared the Palace of Justice, I noticed that the driver was not taking us the usual way. The non-commissioned officer said: "We are going round to the Boulevard du Palais," and when, seeing that I was not being driven to the _Depot_, I asked where he was taking me, he replied, after much hesitation: "To the _Souriciere_ (the Mouse-Trap)."

"What!" I exclaimed in fearful dismay, "you mean to say that I am going to be shut up in one of those cages, like a beast?... Is the women's _Souriciere_ like that of the men?"

"Yes. Madame.... You will have to wait there until the Judge is ready to receive you."... And with great gentleness, the man added: "We have lost a great deal of time on our way to Saint-Lazare, and fetched you as late as possible, so that you will not have to wait long."

I thanked the officer, entered through the "new" door, and was taken through low, damp, cold pa.s.sages to the _Souriciere_. Saint-Lazare is bad enough, Heaven knows; the _Depot_ worse, but the _Souriciere_ is an abomination. Let the reader imagine two rows of cages, one on top of the other, and with steps to reach the upper row. Opposite, on a kind of platform, sits a Sister, who can see through the iron bars of each case the prisoners of both rows of cages.

When she saw me, the Sister on duty, Sur Berthe, a very old, sweet-eyed sister, tottered towards me and took me to one of the empty cages.

When I say cages, I am not exaggerating. Each cage, unspeakably filthy and foul-smelling, is about seven feet high, five feet long, and three feet wide. The door forms one wall, as it were; the upper half is a square hole barred from side to side and from top to bottom. Air enters through this hole, which has no gla.s.s. The door opens from the outside.

I had not been in "my" cage for one minute before I was ill, and I had to remain there, frozen, dejected and ill, from nine o'clock--for, by a refinement of cruelty, M. Andre had sent early for me at Saint-Lazare--until noon. Women in other cages, near me and above me, shouted at me. They could not see one another, but they had all witnessed my arrival through the bars of their "windows"; somehow, they knew who I was and the insults I heard at Saint-Lazare were hurled at me again! Sometimes, one woman just to contradict the others, would take my part and scream at the top of her voice: "I tell you she is a kid (_une gosse_), and kids haven't what's needed to strangle a man and a woman!

Shut up, you fools!" Fierce quarrels ensued, from cage to cage. Every woman shouted and thumped on "her" walls. The whole flimsy structure of the "Mouse-Trap" shook ominously... and Sister Berthe on her platform went on knitting quietly, without raising her head. She had witnessed such scenes ever since she had been on duty at the _Souriciere_, and did not even take notice. After a time, the women quieted down, and I heard them say to the Sister: "I am hungry.... Give me a cigarette. That deceives hunger.... We all know you have cigarettes!" And the kind old Sister sometimes handed them cigarettes through the bars!

I heard afterwards that those wretched women often had to wait in those foul cages for eight or nine hours for the Examining-Magistrate or the prison van--which they call the _panier a salade_ (salad-basket).

Eight or nine hours in a cage!... I thought of an examining-magistrate, M. L., whom I had known years ago. He was a great admirer of mine, and frequently forsook his duties to come and pay me compliments or to listen to some music in my salon.... And I thought him a charming man!

Now, I realised that whenever he wasted time at my house the woman, perhaps several women, had had to wait in a cage, hour after hour, until his return, and I felt bitterly ashamed of myself for not having guessed that a magistrate, like a doctor, has patients who cannot, who must not, wait.

I waited only three hours in my cage! But when I entered M. Andre's Cabinet, I felt more dead than alive, and I said to him: "You will not see me again. You sent for me at Saint-Lazare hours too soon. I have spent three hours at the _Souriciere_, and I understand that it was owing to an order given by you. How can you expect me to answer your questions, after what I have just pa.s.sed through?"

On three occasions, before _Instructions_, I was locked up in a cage at the "Mouse-Trap," and from nine in the morning till seven or eight at night I had to go without any kind of food. But after those three times I looked so weak and haggard, I have been told, that M. Andre cancelled his order, and once more I was placed in a cell at the _Depot_, pending the _Instruction_, and once more the Sister Superior with the Madonna face wrapped me about with her radiant kindness, comforting me with her sweet, wise words, and the divine light that shone in her eyes.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE LAST "INSTRUCTION"

I will now quote almost in full the final _Instruction_, which took place on March 13th, 1909. I cannot well conceive a more intensely poignant and dramatic doc.u.ment, and after over two years, when I re-read it, I can hardly believe that those _Questions_ were put to me, and that the _Answers_ were those I made, in the room of an Examining Magistrate, who accused me of having murdered my husband and my mother.

"On March 13th, 1909, before us, Andre, has been brought the widow Steinheil."

_Question._ "With the reservations and the restrictions with which we acquainted you during your previous interrogatory, Dr. Balthazard has expressed the opinion that the _crime cannot have been committed by one person alone_. In any case, the evidence, as a whole, seems to establish the fact of your personal partic.i.p.ation in the crime, and we have, to-day, in an interrogatory which we consider as being the final one, to recall to your mind, the various presumptions and charges which have been brought against you."

_Answer._ "I protest to you with all my soul that I am innocent, and that you have in your dossier the proof of my innocence."

_Question._ "In what can you protest that we have any proof?"

_Answer._ "People do not kill without some compelling reason; now, you are aware that I adored my mother, and that I have lived on quite good terms with my husband for eighteen years."

_Question._ "On November 26th, at the time of the proceedings against Remy Couillard, you attributed the crime to Alexandre Wolff, whilst on the same day, when describing the circ.u.mstances in which Wolff acted, you have made different and contradictory statements, then, you have made a retractation. Besides, the investigations that have been made about Alexandre Wolff did not justify the suspicions against him."

_Answer._ "As I have explained, I imagined, under the influence of journalists who had unhinged my mind, all that I said about Wolff. I repeat once more that Wolff is innocent."

_Question._ "From the outset until November 26th, then constantly ever since, you have attributed the crime to four individuals--three men and one red-haired woman--all four dressed in long black gowns, and the men wearing hats with high crowns and wide brims."