in the habit of confiding his griefs. It was therefore natural that he should direct him to meet him in the wood, close by a tree known as the “Hanging Oak,” which stood near the road, to receive his last instructions. From the time when he left his house to keep his appointment until late the same evening nothing was heard of him, and as it was an unusual circumstance for him to be absent about the fields so many hours, and especially when it was known that he was about to start for Paris, some of the servants proposed a search, and having heard the appointment with Tréport, they decided on beginning it at the “Hanging Oak.” On arriving at the tree they found it was not necessary to continue their search any further, for their master’s body lay before them, covered with blood about the breast. They carried him home, and a doctor was sent for, but all he could say was that the unfortunate man had been dead some hours. An examination was made of his clothes, and sticking to them, and partly driven into the wound itself, they found the paper which had served as wadding for the gun with which he had been shot.
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The only persons upon whom suspicion could fall were Martin Tréport, the gamekeeper, and the brothers Débordet. The first had orders to meet his master at the very spot where he was murdered, and about the time when it was supposed by the doctor the crime was perpetrated. He was apprehended, and several damning facts were brought against him on his trial, the strongest of which was, that the wadding found on the body had been torn from a number of “Le Feuilleton Littéraire,” found in his bed-room. Notwithstanding this powerful circumstantial evidence, his counsel urged his cause with so much force; dwelling on the absence of all motive on the part of the prisoner, that he was the person in whom the deceased had placed all his confidence, and from that very circumstance he had nothing to hope for from Madame Courtaud, that the jury acquitted him. There can be little doubt that there was another consideration which very materially influenced their conclusion, and this was, that there were others about the estate who knew of the appointment, and who really had motives for putting Courtaud to death. The brothers Débordet were then arrested, but they brought forward evidence to prove an alibi, and were set at liberty. So convinced, however, was the attorney-general of the guilt of all the parties, that he caused them to be placed under the secret surveillance of the police.
