Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 01.pdf/488

Rh CAUSES CÉLÈBRES.

X.

[1832.]

N the 8th of November, 1829, M. Benoit, the juge de paix of Vouziers, departed from that town to visit a mill which he owned, situated at a distance of several leagues; he did not expect to return until the next day. Madame Benoit, his wife, remained alone in the house during his absence with her youngest son, Frédéric Benoit, aged seventeen, and her niece, Louise Feucher, who served the family as a domestic.

Madame Benoit slept on the ground-floor in a small dark room, the door of which opened upon a passage-way running from the dining-room to another sleeping-chamber. This last chamber had two windows opening upon the Place de Vouziers, which were guarded by wooden shutters. In this same room, between one of these windows and the chimney, stood a wardrobe, and at the other end of the apartment was an alcove with a bed in it, at the head of which was a small door communicating with the room in which Madame Benoit slept. The passage-way of which we have spoken separated the apartment of Madame Benoit from the kitchen, where Louise Feucher had her bed. Frédéric occupied a chamber on the first floor, directly over the kitchen.

Madame Benoit, as if impressed by a presentiment of danger, had locked the windows with more care than usual. Observing that the hook of one of the shutters did not fit tightly, but could be easily moved, she tied it with a piece of string in such a manner that it would resist any efforts which might be made to unfasten it from the outside. This shutter was that of the window near the wardrobe, which contained the table linen. In the lower part of this wardrobe was a box containing sums of money; among others, a bag containing six thousand francs in gold. The existence of this box and its use was unknown to any one outside of the family.

About the middle of the night following M. Benoit's departure, M. Dossereau, a surgeon living in the adjoining house, was awakened by the cries of Frédéric Benoit. He arose hastily, believing that his neighbor's house was on fire, and aroused his brother, Dossereau-Sorlet, with whom he dwelt. The latter hurried out first, in his shirt, and found Frédéric upon his doorsteps, who said to him, "Quick! quick! we have been robbed! the robbers are in our house." The two rushed back to the house; and as they entered the sleeping-chamber, Frédéric cried: "The robbers leaped out of that window; did you not see them go? One was a woman! there she is, crossing the place." Dossereau hastened to the door, but the place was deserted; there was not a living soul to be seen. He re-entered his house to dress, intending to return at once.

As he left the Benoits' house, his brother the surgeon entered it. Frédéric said to him, "M. Dossereau, we have been robbed!" Dossereau was about to search the house when Frédéric added, "M. Dossereau, call mamma." Having called repeatedly without eliciting a response, the surgeon inquired where she slept. "In that room," replied Frédéric, pointing to the door of her chamber. Dossereau opened the door, and by the light of the candle which he carried in his hand, perceived the dead body of Madame Benoit lying upon the bed, and the floor of the chamber covered with blood. He drew back, crying, "Horrible! my poor boy, your mother has been murdered!" and