dame Benoit was commenced, and important evidence was obtained against Labauve. A witness, a woman named Malvat, testified that at a late hour on the night of the crime she passed Labauve's house several times, and she observed that door opened and shut. The last time the door opened wide, and Labauve appeared in his shirt and asked what had happened. The woman Malvat informed him of the crime which had been perpetrated at Benoit's house; thereupon Labauve quickly shut the door, and ten minutes later he and his wife were at the scene of the murder.
Another witness related that at about two o'clock in the morning he had seen a man running rapidly; this man wore a white cap and a gray vest. Labauve had a vest of that color.
These were not proofs, but they were presumptions the gravity of which was augmented by the inexplicable character of the anonymous letter. Tried before the court at Ardennes, Labauve was acquitted on the 30th of July, 1830, but thanks only to a division of the jury, which stood six against six.
Such an acquittal was a stigma, and no one doubted that Labauve was guilty. However that might be, Labauve had saved his head. He did not, however, recover his liberty. He was held to answer for the anonymous letter in which he threatened the life of M. Benoit. For this he was convicted and sentenced to five years' imprisonment.
When the court pronounced this severe sentence, Labauve, trembling with emotion, suddenly arose and extending his arm toward the crucifix said in a solemn voice: "I swear before God and before men, that the author of the murder of Madame Benoit will be discovered within two weeks, and that the crime was committed by Fayer and Louise Feucher!"
Fayer, who was present in the court-room, immediately entered a complaint, and Labauve was further condemned to six months' additional imprisonment and to pay two hundred francs' damages. Louise Feucher, on her part, claimed damages for the outrage upon her reputation, and Labauve was condemned to pay her three hundred francs.
Labauve was taken to prison to serve his sentence, and human justice believed it must content itself with this incomplete satisfaction, when a new crime suddenly threw a fearful light upon the crime at Vouziers.
On the 21st of July, 1831, at about eleven o'clock in the evening, two young men presented themselves at the Hôtel des Bains at Versailles, and asked for a room for the night. They were refused, owing to the lateness of the hour, and were obliged to put up with quarters in the lodging-house of one Voisin. They registered under the names Jean François Clément, aged eighteen, a notary's clerk in Paris, and Nicolas Aubert, aged twenty, employé in the custom-house, born and living in Paris.
After passing the night at Voisin's house, they went out between five and six o'clock in the morning, and returned to the Hôtel des Bains, where they complained of having slept badly, and again asked for a room. They were conducted to the chamber numbered 8.
This chamber had two doors, one communicating with room No. 7, and the other opening upon a corridor. On entering one of the young men threw himself upon a sofa, and the other lay down upon the bed. About noon one of them was seen leaving the hotel. He walked out quietly, and did not return. At seven o'clock in the evening, his companion not having appeared, a servant was sent to ask if he desired anything. This servant found the door opening into the corridor locked. Having knocked and called without receiving a reply, he entered the chamber by the door leading from the room No. 7, and the first object that struck his eye was the lifeless body of the young man.
The body lay upon the floor near the
