Still the man hesitated: “Couldn’t
you bring it?”
Maillochon exclaimed: “No, indeed!
You know our price! Take it or leave it!”
The dealer decided: “It’s a bargain
for twenty francs!”
And they shook hands over the deal.
Then he took out four big five-franc pieces from the
cash drawer, and the two friends pocketed the money.
Labouise arose, emptied his glass and left. As
he was disappearing in the shadows he turned round
to exclaim: “It isn’t a buck.
I don’t know what it is!—but it’s
there. I’ll give you back your money if
you find nothing!”
And he disappeared in the darkness. Maillochon,
who was following him, kept punching him in the back
to express his joy.
As we were still talking about Pranzini, M. Maloureau,
who had been attorney general under the Empire, said:
“Oh! I formerly knew a very curious affair,
curious for several reasons, as you will see.
“I was at that time imperial attorney in one
of the provinces. I had to take up the case which
has remained famous under the name of the Moiron case.
“Monsieur Moiron, who was a teacher in the north
of France, enjoyed an excellent reputation throughout
the whole country. He was a person of intelligence,
quiet, very religious, a little taciturn; he had married
in the district of Boislinot, where he exercised his
profession. He had had three children, who had
died of consumption, one after the other. From
this time he seemed to bestow upon the youngsters confided
to his care all the tenderness of his heart.
With his own money he bought toys for his best scholars
and for the good boys; he gave them little dinners
and stuffed them with delicacies, candy and cakes:
Everybody loved this good man with his big heart,
when suddenly five of his pupils died, in a strange
manner, one after the other. It was supposed that
there was an epidemic due to the condition of the
water, resulting from drought; they looked for the
causes without being able to discover them, the more
so that the symptoms were so peculiar. The children
seemed to be attacked by a feeling of lassitude; they
would not eat, they complained of pains in their stomachs,
dragged along for a short time, and died in frightful
suffering.
“A post-mortem examination was held over the
last one, but nothing was discovered. The vitals
were sent to Paris and analyzed, and they revealed
the presence of no toxic substance.
“For a year nothing new developed; then two
little boys, the best scholars in the class, Moiron’s
favorites, died within four days of each other.
An examination of the bodies was again ordered, and
in both of them were discovered tiny fragments of
crushed glass. The conclusion arrived at was
that the two youngsters must imprudently have eaten
from some carelessly cleaned receptacle. A glass
broken over a pail of milk could have produced this
frightful accident, and the affair would have been
pushed no further if Moiron’s servant had not
been taken sick at this time. The physician who
was called in noticed the same symptoms he had seen
in the children. He questioned her and obtained
the admission that she had stolen and eaten some candies
that had been bought by the teacher for his scholars.
