If this marriage of youth with crabbed age resulted in any unhappiness the neighbours saw little of it.Though it was rumoured that for her old and rich husband Euphemie had given up a young man of her fancy in Tarbes, her conduct during the two years she lived with Lacoste seemed to be irreproachable.Lacoste was rather a nasty old fellow from all accounts.He was niggardly, coarse, and a womanizer.Euphemie's position in the house was little better than that of head domestic servant, but in this her lot was the common one for wives of her station in this part of France.She appeared to be contented enough with it.
About two years after the marriage, on the 16th of May, 1843, to be exact, after a trip with his wife to the fair at Riguepeu, old Lacoste was taken suddenly ill, ultimately becoming violently sick.Eight days later he died.
By a will which Henri had made two months after his marriage his wife was his sole beneficiary, and this will was no sooner proved than the widow betook herself to Tarbes, where she speedily began to make full use of her fortune.Milliners and dressmakers were called into service, and the widow blossomed forth as a lady of fashion.She next set up her own carriage.If these proceedings had not been enough to excite envy among her female neighbours the frequent visits paid to her in her genteel apartments by a young man did the trick.The young man came on the scene less than two months after the death of the old man.It was said that his visits to the widow were prolonged until midnight.Scandal resulted, and out of the scandal rumour regarding the death of Henri Lacoste.It began to be said that the old man had died of poison.
It was in December, six months after the death of Lacoste, that the rumours came to the ears of the magistrates.Nor was there lack of anonymous letters.It was the Widow Lacoste herself, however, who demanded an exhumation and autopsy on the body of her late husband-- this as a preliminary to suing her traducers.Note, in passing, how her action matches that of Veuve Boursier.
On the orders of the Juge d'instruction an autopsy was begun on the18th of December.The body of Lacoste was exhumed, the internal organs were extracted, and these, with portions of the muscular tissue, were submitted to analysis by a doctor of Auch, M.Bouton, and two chemists of the same city, MM.Lidange and Pons, who at the same time examined samples of the soil in which the body had been interred.The finding was that the body of Lacoste contained some arsenical preparation.
The matter now appearing to be grave, additional scientific assurance was sought.Three of the most distinguished chemists in Paris were called into service for a further analysis.They were MM.Devergie, Pelouze, and Flandin.Their report ran in part:
The portion of the liver on which we have experimented proved to contain a notable quantity of arsenic, amounting to more than five milligrammes; the portions of the intestines and tissue examined also contained appreciable traces which, though in smaller proportion than contained by the liver, accord with the known features of arsenical poisoning.There is no appearance of the toxic element in the earth taken from the grave or in the material of the coffin.
As soon as Mme Lacoste was apprised of the findings of the autopsy she got into her carriage and was driven to Auch, where she visited a friend of her late husband and of herself.To him she announced her intention of surrendering herself to the Procureur du Roi.The friend strongly advised her against doing any such thing, advice which Mme Lacoste accepted with reluctance.
On the 5th of January a summons to appear was issued for Mme Lacoste.She was seen that day in Auch, walking the streets on the arm of a friend.She even went to the post-office, but the police agents failed to find her.She stopped the night in the town.Next day she was at Riguepeu.She was getting out of her carriage when a servant pointed out gendarmes coming up the hill with the Mayor.When those officials arrived Euphemie was well away.Search was made through the house and outbuildings, but without result.Don't bother yourself looking any further, Monsieur le Maire,'' said one of the servants.The mistress isn't far away, but she's in a place where I could hide a couple of oxen without you finding them.
From then on Mme Lacoste was hunted for everywhere.The roads to Tarbes, Toulouse, and Vic-Fezensac were patrolled by brigades of gendarmes day and night, but there was no sign of the fugitive.It was rumoured that she had got away to Spain, that she was cached in a barrel at Riguepeu, that she was in the fields disguised as a shepherd, that she had taken the veil.
In the meantime the process against her went forward.Evidence was to hand which seemed to inculpate with Mme Lacoste a poor and old schoolmaster of Riguepeu named Joseph Meilhan.The latter, arrested, stoutly denied not only his own part in the supposed crime, but also the guilt of Mme Lacoste.Why doesn't she come forward?'' he asked.
She knows perfectly well she has nothing to fear--no more than I have.''
From the `information' laid by the court of first instance at Auch a warrant was issued for the appearance of Mme Lacoste and Meilhan before the Assize of Gers.Mme Lacoste was apparently well instructed by her friends.She did not come into the open until the last possible moment.She gave herself up at the Auch prison on the 4th of July.
Her health seemed to have suffered little from the vicissitudes of her flight.It was noticed that her hair was short, a fact which seemed to point to her having disguised herself.But, it is said, she exhibited a serenity of mind which consorted ill with the idea of guilt.She faced an interrogation lasting three hours without faltering.
