Meanwhile M. Lacoste was letting new complaints be heard regarding his
wife. Again Lespere was his confidant. His wife was bad and sulky. He
was very inclined to undo what he had done for her. This was in March of
1843.
Towards the end of April he made a like complaint to another old
friend, one Dupouy, who accused him of neglecting old friends through
uxoriousness. Lacoste said he found little pleasure in his young wife.
He was, on the contrary, a martyr. He was on the point of disinheriting
her.
And so, with the usual amount of on dit and disait-on, the acte
d'accusation came to the point of Lacoste at the Riguepeu fair. He set
out in his usual health, but, several hours later, said to one Laffon,
"I have the shivers, cramps in the stomach. After being made to drink by
that ---- Meilhan I felt ill."
Departing from the fair alone, he met up with Jean Durieux, to whom he
said, "That ---- of a Meilhan asked me to have a drink, and afterwards I
had colic, and wanted to vomit."
Arrived home, Lacoste said to Pierre Cournet that he had been seized by
a colic which made him ill all over, plaguing him, giving him a desire
to vomit which he could not satisfy. Cournet noticed that Lacoste was as
white as a sheet. He advised going to bed and taking hot water. Lacoste
took the advice. During the night he was copiously sick. The old man was
in bed in an alcove near the kitchen, but next night he was put into a
room out of the way of noise.
Euphemie looked after her husband alone, preparing his drinks and
admitting nobody to see him. She let three days pass without calling a
doctor. Lacoste, it was true, had said he did not want a doctor, but,
said the accusation, "there is no proof that he persisted in that wish."
On the fourth day she sent a summary of the illness to Dr Boubee, asking
for written advice. On the fifth day a surgeon was called, M. Lasmolles,
who was told that Lacoste had eaten a meal of onions, garlic stems, and
beans. But the story of this meal was a lie, a premeditated lie. On the
eve of the fair Mme Lacoste was already speaking of such a meal, saying
that that sort of thing always made her husband ill.
According to the accusation, the considerable amount of poison found in
the body established that the arsenic had been administered on several
occasions, on the first by Meilhan and on the others by Mme Lacoste.
When Henri Lacoste had drawn his last breath his wife shed a few tears.
But presently her grief gave place to other preoccupations. She herself
looked out the sheet for wrapping the corpse, and thereafter she began
to search in the desk for the will which made her her husband's sole
heir.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account